But a growing number of other Republicans, like Hawley, see continuing SNAP for the 42 million people who it supports as a political priority, even if the government is still shut down. Congress has now adjourned for the week and is too late to prevent a lapse in food stamp benefits. SNAP recipients will see their benefits halted on Nov. 1 due to insufficient funds.

Hawley told the Washington Examiner on Thursday, before the Senate adjourned, that he has a bit of optimism for the bill’s prospects down the line.

“My bill does retroactively apply, so maybe there will be some more movement then,” Hawley said of his bill’s prospects next week.

FURIOUS THUNE UNLOADS ON DEMOCRATS AMID BLAME GAME OVER SNAP FUNDING LAPSE

If approved, Hawley’s legislation, the Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025, would provide benefits under SNAP to the approximately 12% of the country enrolled in the federal food assistance program.

And a growing number of Republicans have signed onto the legislation — as of Thursday afternoon, there were 29 cosponsors: 14 Republicans, 13 Democrats, and two independent senators.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is one of those who have added her name to the list. Lummis pointed out that the White House has claimed that it can’t tap into a SNAP contingency fund designed for emergencies. That fund, worth some $5 billion, isn’t enough to cover the whole month of November’s SNAP payments, but Democrats said it would help.

Democrats argue that the Trump administration can tap into that fund, but the Trump administration claims that it does not have the legal authority to do so. Some two dozen Democratic states are suing over the matter.

“I would actually do that,” Lummis told the Washington Examiner when asked about separating SNAP from the broader shutdown negotiations, “and especially if we can find a way to pay for it, because the reason it’s not happening by executive fiat is because the executive branch is prohibited from using their emergency money to fund a permanent, ongoing program.”

Other senators who have signed onto the Hawley bill include: Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Katie Britt (R-AL); Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); Bill Cassidy (R-LA); Susan Collins (R-ME); John Cornyn (R-TX); Kevin Cramer (R-ND); Jon Husted (R-OH); James Lankford (R-OK); Roger Marshall (R-KS); Bernie Moreno (R-OH); Lisa Murkowski (R-AK); and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).

The Republican Party has shifted toward populism in recent years, which means that GOP lawmakers might be more open to supporting — or at least defending — entitlement programs than in decades past.

Many GOP lawmakers have called for reforming or downsizing programs like SNAP, so the latest push puts these Republicans in a bit of an unusual position, historically speaking. Notably, SNAP spending has about doubled in the past two decades.

Inflation-adjusted annual spending on SNAP was under $50 billion in 2005, but has now ballooned to nearly $100 billion. Spending spiked even higher following the pandemic in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Still, GOP leadership has pushed back on the idea of passing specific legislative carve-outs known as “rifle shot” bills, which are designed to provide legislative relief for certain groups during the shutdown, such as SNAP beneficiaries. Instead, they hope to pressure Democrats to accept the clean spending bill as is and vote to fund the government.

“These rifle-shot bills that you keep hearing about deviate from the goal,” Johnson said Thursday. “We have one singular purpose, and that is to reopen and fund the entire government.”

“The Democrats do not get to shut down the government and then make the decision on who’s more important than the other and which little thing they want to fund to relieve their own political pain,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has also defended the strategy. He pushed back on Democrats during a floor speech on Wednesday after Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) spearheaded a competing bill from Hawley designed to fund SNAP.

“SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food,” Thune said Wednesday in a speech. “People should be getting paid in this country, and we’ve tried to do that 13 times … This isn’t a political game, these are real peoples’ lives that we’re talking about.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that he’s on the same page as Thune: “Let’s open up the government.”

The majority of the Senate has voted now more than a dozen times to reopen the government, with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans on the clean CR. But, because of the filibuster, there needs to be 60 votes, meaning that more Democrats will have to jump ship in order to have the legislation pass.

“No, I don’t think that’s right yet,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said when asked his thoughts about Hawley’s push. “We just need to get five Democrats to join us on the clean CR and we open this place back up.

Alex Conant, a GOP strategist and a partner at Firehouse Strategies, said he isn’t surprised that there is starting to be some factions breaking with leadership and pushing for things like funding SNAP.

“I think the longer the shutdown lasts, the harder it is to stay united,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Some of these senators have a lot of constituents who can feel real pain and the loss of benefits, and that’s going to weigh on them.”

LOOMING SNAP DEADLINE AMPS UP PRESSURE ON BOTH TRUMP AND DEMOCRATS

He said that the Senate shouldn’t try to fund the government one program at a time, and that passing stand-alone bills doesn’t really address the heart of the matter — which is reopening the federal government.

“I think if the goal is to open up the entire government, it’s very dangerous to start passing piecemeal bills because it takes pressure off everyone to negotiate,” Conant added.