Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer placed blame on Trump and Republicans for the lapse in SNAP funding, saying that the Trump administration “must do more” to ensure beneficiaries receive their full benefits.

“After the courts have spoken, the administration, continues to use kids, seniors, disabled Americans and working parents as political pawns, dangling the threat of hunger over their heads,” Schumer said Monday afternoon on the Senate floor. “Providing partial benefits is not enough, is not compliant with the law, and it's particularly cruel of Trump with the Thanksgiving season around the corner.”

Schumer also expressed outrage at the “sticker shock” Americans are feeling as open enrollment begins and they watch the cost of their health insurance premiums rise while knocking Trump for remodeling the Lincoln Bedroom bathroom.

“While Donald Trump is bragging about remodeling bathrooms at the White House, Americans are panicking about how they will afford health care next year,” he said.

But as the shutdown rages on, Schumer showed no signs of caving, laying out the Democratic position yet again.

“Democrats have been very clear from the start. We need to lower people's health care costs. We need to reopen the government. We need to extend the ACA premium credits. That is what the majority of Americans want,” Schumer said.

-ABC News’ John Parkinson

President Donald Trump's repeated calls over the last few days to upend the Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation seems to have had little impact on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who told reporters on Monday that there won't be changes to the Senate rule any time soon.

Thune gave a direct "no" when asked if Trump's latest comments change his long-held stance on the need to preserve the Senate filibuster. "The votes aren't there," he followed.

Thune is likely referring to votes by his own members. It would take at least 51 votes to overturn the Senate filibuster rule. Thune's comment is indicative of a number of comments from rank-and-file members suggesting they wouldn't go along with a change to the rule.

"Does that surprise anybody?" Thune jested on Monday when asked about Trump's renewed call to make changes to the Senate rules.

Thune said he's spoken to Trump about the filibuster. "I think we all know his view," Thune said. "And we all know my view."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Pressed by ABC News, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries brushed off the notion that Democrats -- who are withholding their votes on a clean government funding bill -- are in any way to blame for the lapse in critical SNAP food assistance.

"Wouldn't the easiest way to fund SNAP just be for Democrats to vote to fund the government?" ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent asked Jeffries on Monday.

"No, the easiest way to fund snap is for the administration to do exactly what is done in so many other instances, including the administration finding $40 billion in order to bail out their right-wing dictator, wannabe friend in Argentina ... This is an intentional, vicious choice that Donald Trump and Republicans are making, and not a single American should go hungry, not a single American, and it's the fault of Republicans that that is happening in this country," Jeffries said.

Democrats continue to point out SNAP has never run out of funding in its 60-year history, including in past shutdowns. Jeffries demanded the Trump administration dip into the U.S. Department of Agriculture's emergency fund to help cover the program.

-ABC News' John Parkinson and Lauren Peller

Using emergency funds to pay for reduced SNAP benefits could take "a few weeks to up to several months," a top USDA official told a federal judge in a sworn court filing on Monday.

In addition to the delay, the Trump administration also said it was $4 billion short of the expected $8 billion cost to fund SNAP for the month of November, in part, because they are declining to tap an additional bucket of emergency funds held by the USDA.

"Defendants have worked diligently to comply with the Court's order on the short timeline provided by the Court and during a government shutdown," DOJ lawyers wrote in a filing on Monday, committing to spend $4.65 billion on SNAP.

The disclosure comes after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for SNAP amid an ongoing government shutdown by Wednesday. Following the court order on Friday, Trump said it would be his "honor" to fund the food assistance program.

-ABC News' Peter Charalambous and Stephen Portnoy