{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-joins-house-democrats-urging-usda-to-protect-snap-during-republican-shutdown", "Rep. Tokuda Joins House Democrats Urging USDA to Protect SNAP During Republican Shutdown", "2025-10-25", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Jill N. Tokuda", "T000487", "tokuda.house.gov", "tokuda", "https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases?PageNum_rs=2&", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Rep. Jill Tokuda (HI-02) joined 214 House Democrats in calling on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to use all available authorities, including the $5 billion SNAP contingency fund, to ensure food assistance continues for millions of Americans during the ongoing Republican shutdown.\n\nThe letter from House Democrats demands that USDA act immediately to provide November SNAP benefits using the contingency reserve fund Congress specifically established for this purpose. Without urgent action, 42 million Americans, including keiki, k\u016bpuna, and veterans, could see their food assistance cut off in November.\n\n\u201cThousands of Hawai\u02bbi households will soon face an impossible question \u2014 how to put food on the table with no certainty that their federal SNAP benefits will come through next month. SNAP contingency funds exist for emergencies like this, yet 42 million Americans, from keiki to k\u016bpuna, risk going hungry. That is unconscionable,\u201d said Rep. Tokuda. \u201cUSDA already confirmed SNAP has multi-year contingency funds to keep operating through a shutdown. Now the Trump administration claims their hands are tied, and that guidance has vanished. As this Republican shutdown approaches its second month, the administration has a choice: either continue to use food as a political weapon or use the legal authority given to them by Congress to stop this crisis and keep families fed. I urge Secretary Rollins and the administration to do the right thing and fulfill their responsibility to the American people.\u201d\n\nThe letter is linked here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-joins-house-democrats-urging-usda-to-protect-snap-during-republican-shutdown"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 9.63557604700327, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}