Afrasianet - Mohammad Krishan - The  ongoing U.S. government shutdown crisis, caused by the failure to pass a budget due to differences between Republicans and Democrats, has exposed many of the ills of American society that have often been covered up by the rhetoric of power and arrogance that has become increasingly prominent with President Trump.

Moreover, the hunger of these people has become hostage to bipartisan bickering, even President Trump himself He did not find a shy eye to announce that food aid to these millions would only be given when the federal government shutdown ends, at a time when some lawyers and organizations across the federal judiciary sought to force his administration to fully fund the program.

The New York Times reported that several Democrats have accused the president of trying to turn food aid, a program on which one in eight Americans depend, into a bargaining chip.

Not only that, but the USDA has directed state governments to immediately reverse any steps they have taken to issue emergency food assistance to low-income Americans, or they will expose themselves to financial sanctions.

These states have been trying to find a way out of their own funding for these hungry people after the benefits of the Supplemental Food Assistance Program, known as SNAP, expired for the first time in the program's 60-year history due to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

Among those penalties were the Department of Agriculture's threat to "revoke federal quotas of state administrative costs and hold them accountable for any abuses resulting from noncompliance."

Although the Department of Agriculture later announced that it would use emergency funding to pay for the November Food Assistance Program reduced benefits after a judge halted its plans to suspend payments during the shutdown, that did not stop President Trump just a day later from threatening to withhold benefits from the program without Any consideration for these millions of his citizens.

More voices in the United States, even among the president's supporters and the "Make America Great Again" movement, are growing louder to demand a review of national options.

According to a report published by the British newspaper "The Guardian", while Republicans seek to hold Democrats responsible for the loss of subsidies on which low-income people depend, those working in the field of combating food insecurity see this claim as misleading, as a previous law passed by Trump effectively eliminated about $187 billion in funding for the "Snap" program, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

The estimated population of 340 million, including about 13 million children, according to data from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, calls for a quick look at the numbers of hungry people in two countries with which Washington always finds itself in frantic competition on more than one level, China and Russia. Hunger rates are very low, according to published reports.

Russia is also one of 25 countries with a score below 5 in the Global Hunger Index.

These countries are not ranked individually, but collectively 1 to 25 out of 123 countries that have enough data to calculate the 2025 Global Hunger Index scores, while there is no specific published ranking for the United States.

The stark irony here is that the world's largest country, with a War Department budget (as it has come to be called the Ministry of Defense) has $851.7 billion for 2025, an increase of 3.3%. As for the previous year's budget, it seems indifferent to the hunger of millions of its citizens, with the humanitarian consideration that ultimately concerns the dignity and reputation of an entire nation.

This great power sees one of its most important duties to provide Israel with everything it needs, as soon as possible and without hesitation, and has even provided it with military aid of at least $21.7 billion, since the start of the genocidal war more than two years ago, in addition to the annual assistance to the continent of more than $3 billion.

Perhaps all of this is why we are seeing more voices in the United States, even among the president's supporters and his (Let's Make America Great Again) increasingly demanding a review of the major national options, so that the priority is really for America and its citizens, not a country Occupation of fascism or of failed U.S. military adventures abroad.

Tunisian writer and media personality