USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1
A notice on top of its website says "the well has run dry."
The Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website warning that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1.
"Bottom line, the well has run dry," reads the notice, which also blames Democrats for the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at a stalemate on finding a government funding solution. The Senate has continued to fail to advance bill that would reopen the government until Nov. 21. The House remains out of session next week.
Key Headlines
Trump again says he’ll meet with Democrats after the government is reopened
Trump said he will not meet with congressional Democratic leaders to negotiate and end to the shutdown until after the government is funded.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries "reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the health care crisis, address it, and end the shutdown." Schumer pointed out that Trump is leaving for Asia on Friday and said he wanted to meet with the president before then.
Trump said that he would meet with Democrats and even before he leaves for Asia after being asked by reporters, but said the government needs to be funded first.
"You know, the country is so hot right now, and they've never voted against, you know, continuation. They've never voted against. They've never done that. They're doing this because they have Trump derangement syndrome," Trump said.
"But I will -- I would love to meet -- I would like to meet with both of them, but, I -- I said one little caveat. I will only meet if they let the country open. They have to let the country open. The people want to go back to work. They want to be served. They want to — they, they need the services of some people. And a lot of people need the money, the payroll. So, I'll do it as soon as they open up the country," Trump added.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Thune: 'I don't know what there is to negotiate' with Democrats
Republican senators spoke at the White House calling on Democrats to avert a shutdown but when pressed by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, they made clear that there aren't active negotiations to get any closer to a deal.
"We are three weeks into this shutdown, and the two sides don't appear to even be talking. Do you owe it to the American people to at least be negotiating?" Bruce asked Senate Republican leaders after their lunch with President Trump.
"Well, I think we are. We have negotiated. I don't know what there is to negotiate. This is about opening up the government. We have offered them several off ramps," Thune said.
Thune said the Democrats' proposal is not something that would be signed by the president.
"What you do have is a bill that's passed the House, sitting at the desk in the Senate that the president's prepared to sign to open up the government," Thune added, referring to the Republicans' stopgap measure. "So I'm not sure people keep saying, you know, negotiate, negotiate what? I don't know what that is right now the government needs to open up, and then we're happy to sit down and talk about any other issues that Democrats want to talk about."
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Allison Pecorin
Schumer to ABC: Responsibility on GOP to negotiate as shutdown effects ramp up
As the impacts of the government shutdown continue to get worse by the day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC News the responsibility is on Republicans to negotiate and not on Democrats to vote for a clean extension.
ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O'Brien Schumer on SNAP food assistance, a lifeline for millions of Americans that several states are warning won’t be available as of Nov. 1.
"Are Democrats, at least in part, to blame for some of that pain because you are the ones holding out?" O'Brien asked the Senate's top Democrat.
"No," Schumer said. "We have a very simple request, sit there and negotiate. The American people are aghast. Any observer, objective observer, is against that here on this serious problem, they won't even negotiate with us. The onus is on them to sit down. But that is why we have urged Hakeem and I have urged Trump to sit down with us and seriously negotiate."
Thune: Trump 'prepared to sit down' with Democrats but only when government opens
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, following Trump's lunch with Republican senators at the White House, said the president is "prepared to sit down" with Democrats to talk about healthcare (specifically Obamacare subsidies) but only once the government shutdown ends.
"Before that can happen, we've got to have five Democrats who have a little backbone and a willingness to take on their leadership and do the right thing for the country," Thune said.
Thune said Republicans were a "united team" and "at some point, Democrats are going to have to take yes for an answer."
"We’re hopeful that this will be the week when we break out of this and Democrats come to their senses and decide to open up the government,” Thune said. "We're going to give them several opportunities, as you know, to do that. We'll have another vote on the continuing resolution tomorrow."