{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/at-hearing-senator-murray-slams-trump-and-republicans-for-abandoning-veterans-who-rely-on-snap-discusses-support-for-veterans-transition-to-civilian-life/", "At Hearing, Senator Murray Slams Trump and Republicans for Abandoning Veterans Who Rely On SNAP, Discusses Support for Veterans\u2019 Transition to Civilian Life", "2025-11-05", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Trump is refusing to allow SNAP benefits to flow despite available funding\u20141.2 million veterans rely on SNAP, 40 percent of whom are disabled\n\n***WATCH: Senator Murray\u2019s exchange at the hearing***\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Today, at a Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs hearing to examine efforts to support transitioning servicemembers, veterans and their families, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)\u2014a former chair and senior member of the committee\u2014emphasized how veterans who rely on SNAP are being hurt by President Trump blocking SNAP benefits despite available funding, and questioned witnesses on how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can provide better support to veterans during their transition to civilian life.\n\nAppearing at the hearing as witnesses were: Jason Galui, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.), Director, George W. Bush Institute; Mike Hutchings, CEO, Combined Arms; Jared Lyon, National President & CEO, Student Veterans of America; Barbara Carson, Colonel (Ret.), U.S. Air Force Reserve Managing Director, D\u2019Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University; Elizabeth O\u2019Brien, Director, Hiring Our Heroes; and Holly Hermes, Yale University Liaison for Veteran and Military Affairs.\n\n[TRUMP BLOCKING SNAP, HURTING VETERANS]\n\n\u201cLet me echo something Senator Blumenthal talked about, and really point out something that I think has not gotten enough attention, and that is that 1.2 million veterans rely on SNAP. That is, about a third of them are over the age of 65, and forty percent are disabled.\n\n\u201cWe know right now that President Trump is blocking them from getting the SNAP benefits they need so they don\u2019t go hungry.\n\n\u201cThe money to fund SNAP exists. Trump has chosen not to use that funding, and his administration said they\u2019re going to do partial benefits\u2014they\u2019d be late\u2014and then he posted yesterday on Truth Social that he\u2019s decided to block benefits altogether.\n\n\u201cSo now we are, of course, hearing reports of veterans flocking to food banks. They\u2019re not sure where their next meal is going to come from.\n\n\u201cMr. Chairman, my family was one of those families. My dad was a veteran. He got multiple sclerosis, and we had to rely on food stamps for a while, so this is not something we should tolerate.\n\n\u201cThe money exists. It is supposed to go out, and I hope every member of this committee lets the administration know that they need that money to get out.\u201d\n\nSenator Murray continued by asking Jared Lyon, National President & CEO of Student Veterans of America, about the impact that President Trump\u2019s refusal to fund SNAP benefits is having on student veterans in particular: \u201cSo Mr. Lyon, let me just ask you about that. What are you hearing from your members who do rely on SNAP, and tell me why it\u2019s so important to student veterans in particular?\u201d\n\n\u201cAt Student Veterans of America, we leverage a lot of research, and basic needs has been something that we\u2019ve been looking into for the better part of the last five years. Food and housing insecurity are remaining challenges for veterans in higher education,\u201d Mr. Lyon replied. \u201cThe GI bill is designed for a single person that heads back to school, and when you look at the modern student veteran, over half are married or in a committed relationship with children when they head back to school. Another 20 percent of us are single parents when we\u2019re back in school, and over 75 percent of us are working full-time while we are in school, just trying to make ends meet. It is very difficult to transition without a military pension, without health care for life, and that is what the average veteran is doing when they head back to school. So, it\u2019s no surprise to see benefits like SNAP and other things being relied on while you\u2019re back in school and trying to make ends meet. When those benefits go away, veterans are impacted\u2014and more than that, their family members that rely on these benefits are impacted as well.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you for sharing that. And again, I urge all of our committee members to let the Administration know that money\u2019s there. They\u2019re legally required to obligate it. Get it out. We have people who need that,\u201d Senator Murray replied.\n\n[BARRIERS FACING WOMEN VETERANS]\n\nSenator Murray continued her questioning by asking Colonel Hermes about the barriers female veterans face when seeking civilian employment: \u201cLet me ask about, Colonel Hermes, about women veterans. They are the fastest-growing demographic of veterans. And I personally have heard from many women veterans that when they return home to civilian life, people don\u2019t respect their service or assume that they are a military spouse, not the actual veteran. And it is disturbing that we now have a Secretary of Defense who takes every opportunity to insult women who\u2019ve been in the military. And that really, I believe, adds to the barriers that women face now when they return to civilian life. So, talk to us a little bit about some of the barriers that women veterans in particular face when they come home and seek civilian employment.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is a very important question for our society to wrestle with,\u201d Colonel Hermes replied. \u201cIn our group of enlisted student veterans\u2026 we have a very small number of women, and I even say parents, or families, because it is very difficult, just like Mr. Lyon mentioned, to support a family while you\u2019re going to college. The GI benefits, the federal benefits that we\u2019re able to give even institutionally, can\u2019t support some families as they leave the military. So that\u2019s a huge challenge, and I think that\u2019s something that our society needs to keep wrestling with. And we could talk to the VA about programs that could support that in the future nationwide, not just at one school or another.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you very much. I have run out of time, but this is something I\u2019m very concerned about\u2014when we hear discussions about DEI, and then it impacts women who we need in our in our military. And not just then, but when they come home and they are veteran, they actually don\u2019t want to identify as a veteran, or don\u2019t see themselves as a veteran, and they then don\u2019t get the services and benefits that they\u2019ve earned,\u201d Senator Murray said.\n\nSenator Murray was the first woman to join the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee and the first woman to chair the Committee\u2014as the daughter of a World War II veteran, supporting veterans and their families has always been an important priority for her. Senator Murray has been a leading voice in the Senate speaking out forcefully against President Trump and Elon Musk\u2019s mass firing of VA employees and VA researchers across the country and Elon Musk and DOGE\u2019s infiltration of the VA, including accessing veterans\u2019 sensitive personal information. After pressing Doug Collins on EHR and protecting women\u2019s access to VA health care, including lifesaving abortion care, at his nomination hearing, Senator Murray voted against Doug Collins\u2019s nomination to be VA Secretary\u2014sounding the alarm over Elon Musk and DOGE\u2019s activities at the VA and making clear that the Trump administration\u2019s lawlessness is putting our national security and our veterans at risk. Senator Murray released a report earlier this year on how Trump\u2019s mass firings at VA are hurting veterans\u2019 services and health care in Washington state and across the country. And in August, Senator Murray slammed the Trump administration\u2019s move to ban abortion care at VA, even when a veteran\u2019s pregnancy is putting their health at risk or is the result of rape or incest.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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://www.murray.senate.gov/at-hearing-senator-murray-slams-trump-and-republicans-for-abandoning-veterans-who-rely-on-snap-discusses-support-for-veterans-transition-to-civilian-life/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.128103118389845, "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"}