When the federal government shut down weeks ago, no one imagined it’d mean empty plates at a child’s breakfast, a family's bare fridge or the faces of seniors waiting for food assistance that never comes.

But after weeks of chaos driven by a Republican Party willing to use hunger as a bargaining chip, we are now at an unthinkable place: missing SNAP benefits for thousands of New York families who rely on them to eat.

In my district alone, more than 64,000 neighbors depend on those benefits to feed their families. Across the country, millions of households now face food insecurity. Our safety net isn’t being stretched thin; it’s being ripped apart at the seams.
 

It goes beyond hunger. Congressional Republicans have made a deliberate choice to weaponize human need as they push to slash the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits, the same lifeline that keeps millions of Americans insured and able to see a doctor when they’re sick.
 

If we let those health credits lapse, premiums will soar, families will lose coverage and rural hospitals and health care providers will close their doors. Up to 15 million Americans could lose their health care because they will no longer be able to afford it. As Congressman Paul Tonko has often said, “You may not be on Medicaid, but your hospital is.”
 

Make no mistake: This is not accidental. It is strategic. House Republicans and the Trump administration are, quite literally, willing to let millions of Americans suffer if it means lining the pockets of billionaires and corporations and undoing the GOP’s favorite omnipresent scapegoat, Obamacare.

What's more, feeding the American people benefits our local economies; for every SNAP dollar spent, there is an estimated return of $1.50 to $1.80 in local economic activity. And let’s not forget: Members of Congress receive $79 per day for meal reimbursement when in Washington, D.C., while the average New York SNAP recipient receives less than $7 each day.
 

Behind this political cruelty is the senior delaying a prescription refill, the working parents who are struggling to keep the fridge full or the college student counting on the campus pantry to get through finals week. When the lights go out in Washington, they suffer the most.
 

When Washington fails to govern, states become the safety net. That’s why we must recognize this for what it is and reject it: a decades-long crusade to decimate our country’s social safety net and shift this burden to the states.
 

When Republicans in Congress weaponize hunger, threaten health care and treat human need as a negotiating tactic, they are testing whether we’ll accept cruelty as normal. The answer must be a resounding no. Here in New York, we will not accept that kind of moral bankruptcy as the new normal.
 

This country’s greatness lies not in its power or in how cruel it can be to its own people, but in its promise: No matter who you are, where you come from or what language you speak at home, you are part of the American story, and we take care of and look out for one another. A federal government that has walked away from that promise rejects the American story altogether.
 

The reckless federal shutdown and the assault on New Yorkers’ basic needs have made one thing clear: This is not just a policy or fiscal debate, but one that defines our fundamental values. And it is one our taxpayers cannot afford to lose.
 

Congressional Democrats should hold the line.