AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. federal government shutdown has entered its 34th day. Two federal judges ruled Friday the Department of Agriculture must partially disburse funds for SNAP — that’s the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — and ordered the Trump administration to provide an update by today. Food banks and nonprofits nationwide are scrambling to meet the needs of 42 million people whose SNAP benefits were cut off over the weekend, including an estimated 16 million children.

This all comes as President Trump held a lavish, Great Gatsby Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago just hours before the tens of millions of people lost SNAP benefits, which we’ll talk more about in a minute.

But first, we’re joined by Mariana Chilton, professor of practice in the Department of Nutrition at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She’s a nationally recognized leader in child hunger in America, author of The Painful Truth About Hunger in America.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Professor Chilton. If you can start off by talking about what tens of millions of people in this country face today, and particularly the 16 million children who have lost their SNAP benefits? What does this mean?

MARIANA CHILTON: It means that we are headed for a public health and an economic crisis. It’s important to remember who participates in SNAP and what SNAP actually achieves. First of all, SNAP supports — 90% of the people who are on SNAP benefits are American citizens. And the rest, 10%, are here — are immigrants who are here legally and who have been here for over five years. The vast majority of SNAP participants are children and working — with working parents and the elderly and the disabled, veterans and active-duty military. So this affects all different types of people in our society, and it’s going to be devastating if these — if the Trump administration refuses to disburse the SNAP benefit dollars that are there.

It’s important to remember that SNAP does three things. First of all, it prevents hunger. SNAP was created to prevent malnutrition and children dying of starvation. Back in the '60s, pediatricians and nurses were discovering that children were dying of starvation and that pregnant moms were losing their children or giving birth to preterm babies. And they worked with members of Congress to develop the modern SNAP program. And thanks to SNAP, we do not have children dying of hunger. Secondly, it promotes health and well-being of children. It keeps them out of the hospital. It actually also helps them to stay in school, and it helps them with their school performance in math and reading. Thirdly, SNAP stimulates the economy. For every $1 that's spent on SNAP benefits, $1.50 to $1.80 is stimulated in local economies. So, if we don’t get SNAP back and running, up and running, we’re really headed for a major public health and economic crisis.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you have these two judges who said, by Wednesday, SNAP benefits must be partially returned. What does it mean to say the money for SNAP is going to run out? You also have President Trump saying food stamp benefits paid in November will unfortunately be delayed.

MARIANA CHILTON: The Trump administration is currently breaking the law. SNAP is an entitlement program, and it is written into statute that no matter what is happening in Congress, even if Congress is shut down, there are contingency funds to ensure that no one goes hungry in America. SNAP is a fantastic public assistance program. It’s one that people look to around the world as the most effective public assistance program that prevents hunger. And it was built to withstand any kind of political footballing or crisis. And it is meant to respond to all kinds of economic downturns, whether that’s a national economic downturn or when families are falling onto hard times. So, the fact that the Trump administration is withholding this money, they are actively breaking the law, and they are denying people the right to food.

AMY GOODMAN: This all comes as the Trump administration announced it’s ending the U.S. annual report on food insecurity and hunger in America. How important is this report, Professor Chilton?

MARIANA CHILTON: Well, this report is based on years and years of data collection. The food security measure has been in operation for more than 25 years, and it was developed by scientists and social workers who were discovering food insecurity and hunger in their communities, and they developed a measure to look at that. And that was the way that we could see how well SNAP and other nutrition assistance programs, like school breakfast and lunch and the WIC program, which funds food for pregnant and lactating mothers and young children under the age of 5 — it was a way for us to see how well our programs were working at preventing hunger. So, it’s an extremely important measure, based on scientific expertise, and it has withstood multiple rounds of scientific investigation poking at it from all sides, and it has withstood all types of peer review. So, the fact that the U.S. government is no longer utilizing that measure or not allowing those numbers to be released should be deeply concerning, at the same time that they’re withholding funds from SNAP.

SNAP is really a way — it helps to hold up our democracy. It is an entitlement program, again. And it’s really important to think about why it is that they’re doing this. They are actively trying to cause harm and chaos to the American people. And this is something that I talk about in my book, is the experience of disrespect, the experience of violence and discrimination. Those are at the root of food insecurity and hunger. And right now the Trump administration is giving us a master class in how to generate more hunger in our society. This is why SNAP needs to be continued and released.

Another thing that’s really important to remember is that SNAP supplements wages. And the reason that we have SNAP in the first place is that when people are working, they’re not making enough money because employers like Amazon and Walmart are refusing to pay living wages. So, let’s really not just focus on the Trump administration, but let’s look at giant employers and see what it is that they can do to ensure that there’s a living wage where people do not have to participate in SNAP and do not have to rely on Medicaid. There’s no one I’ve met in the 25 years that I’ve been working on food insecurity that wants to be on the SNAP program. They want to make a living wage and feed their families and their communities in a way that is dignified and respectful and that actually builds solidarity. Something that’s so important to remember is that the way you build democracy is to make sure that everyone has healthy and nutritious food on the table.

AMY GOODMAN: And let’s remember that the Democrats are saying that they will not agree to ending the government shutdown unless the Republicans agree to SNAP and healthcare. And this weekend, many people learned their out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare will go up over 100%, on average 26%, and also enhanced tax credits expiring. The significance of losing healthcare, because if you can’t pay for it, you lose it, and losing food assistance? We have 30 seconds.

MARIANA CHILTON: Remember that food assistance promotes health and well-being. So, if you’re cutting SNAP benefits, you’re going to make people sicker, more likely to miss jobs, more likely to miss school. Parents are less likely to be able to show up to work. And they’re going to be not as healthy. Without health insurance, it’s going to cause a major cascade effect. It will be a public health crisis without SNAP benefits and Medicaid benefits. And we really need to focus in on employers paying a living wage.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mariana Chilton, I thank you so much for being with us, professor of practice in the Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, author of The Painful Truth About Hunger in America.