Some 42 million people will miss food assistance payments this weekend due to the Democratic Party‘s federal government shutdown. There is no reason for this to happen. Senate Republicans have voted to prevent it more than a dozen times. They have also always been willing to discuss extending expiring Affordable Care Act bonus subsidies in exchange for reforms to the program.

But this shutdown isn’t really about making healthcare insurance affordable. It’s about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) inability to offer coherent or effective opposition to President Donald Trump, and the need that arose from this failure for him to show his activist base that he is fighting. If millions of people go hungry, Schumer may conclude that showtime is over. Although it must be said that if food stamps are not paid out, no one can seriously believe that 42 million people will go hungry.

As the shutdown continues to drain funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, one Democratic argument in support of........

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