Latest Proposed Bill Will Trap Far Left

Amid the ongoing government shutdown, Senator Josh Hawley (MO) now has 10 conservative Senators backing his bill to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ahead of the November 1 deadline. Those aligning with Hawley are Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Bill Cassidy (LA), Kevin Cramer (ND), James Lankford (OK), Bernie Moreno (OH), Katie Britt (AL), Jon Husted (OH), and Marsha Blackburn (TN).

Yesterday Senator Hawley wrote an op-ed in The New York Times to explain why he is sponsoring the bill:

The federal government has been shut down for 28 days and counting. That’s 28 days too long and already the second-longest federal shutdown ever. Saturday will be another grim milestone. That is the day about 42 million Americans will lose federal food assistance. . . .

There is no reason any of these residents of my state — or any other American who qualifies for food assistance — should go hungry. We can afford to provide the help. Preventing debilitating poverty through the food program costs only about a tenth of our annual defense budget. Of course, aid should be limited to those who truly need it. But there is no cause, and no excuse, to deny aid to the poor entirely.

I believe in maintaining a safety net to help feed citizens in need, so I am generally in favor of this kind of plan. And by coalescing around the bill, the conservative lawmakers are basically telling the far Left: Look, if you’re not going to budge and come to the negotiation table, then surely there’s one issue we can agree on.

Also, Senator Ted Cruz (TX) proposed a bill to fund air traffic controllers and TSA agents. We all definitely want to stay safe when traveling, so hopefully, this bill will get some traction too. We’re heading into the busiest travel season of the year, so something must get done.

As the shutdown lingers, you might be wondering how the American public views Congress. CNN pundits were recently shocked by an October 22 Quinnipiac poll that showed approval ratings for conservative Members of Congress have gone up five points.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Mark Kelly joined our broadcast and reacted to the surprising data:

If you look historically at shutdowns, I think Republicans would tend to tell you that they get blamed often in the public, but that’s just not happening this time. If you look at one public opinion poll after another, either both sides are equally taking the blame – maybe Republicans slightly more to blame – but there’s no big gap like there has been in the past. And right now, I think we’re at an impasse, and you’re seeing Senators starting to come up with these alternative ideas like, Let’s take a limited, narrow approach at something like food stamps or SNAP, the air traffic controllers. . . . I think it’s starting to change a little bit here in Washington.

Many Americans are starting to feel the impact of the shutdown in different ways. We need our elected leaders to end the impasse.

In other news, you likely remember the FBI bombshell news of former Special Counsel Jack Smith obtaining the phone records of almost a dozen conservative U.S. Senators. Now we are finding out that more than 160 conservatives nationwide were investigated by President Biden’s FBI during the “Arctic Frost” probe:

My dad, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, weighed in:

“Arctic Frost” is the code name for this investigation involving legislators. I’m talking about Members of the United States Congress, House and Senate, and the January 6 certification process and the protests on Capitol Hill. And here’s what is just unbelievably outrageous about all of this. If you look at who they targeted here, it was the then-Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Senator Bill Hagerty, Senator Ted Cruz . . . and they were basically getting phone records on these individuals. Now we know it’s much broader than those Senators, up to 160 people. I suspect, by the way, there are many more. . . .

And we are representing these Members of Congress, a number of them, including Senator Graham, Senator Blackburn, Senator Cruz. And we are taking this very seriously. We have authorized the initial filing of a Freedom of Information Act demand, which is going out tomorrow. And that will start the process that I suspect here leads to litigation because we’ve also looked at constitutional violations that have taken place, including something as important as the Speech and Debate Clause of the United States Constitution, which talks about equal branches of government.

As my dad asserted, the ACLJ will be taking legal action to defend the targeted Members of Congress. We will keep you updated on our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking accountability for the unlawful targeting.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of Senator Hawley’s proposal to fund SNAP benefits before the October deadline expires.

Watch the full broadcast below: