US opposition: Trump administration is using hunger as a weapon

Working for journalists in the White House is becoming more complicated. Nigeria would welcome a US military intervention. All the news in the news blog.

A leading representative of the opposition Democrats has accused US Republicans of using hunger as a weapon in the dispute over the federal budget. The ruling Republicans are not genuinely interested in ending the five-week-long government shutdown, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN on Sunday. Instead, he said, they are in the process of triggering a full-blown crisis, including halting food aid for more than 42 million US citizens.

The Democratic Party wants to end the government shutdown with a bipartisan agreement on a budget "that will truly improve the lives of ordinary Americans," Jeffries said. It is deeply regrettable that President Donald Trump and his Republicans "have chosen to weaponize hunger" and withhold food aid through the Snap program, despite two federal court rulings "that no one in this country should be left without their food aid."

A US judge ordered the government on Friday to use a $5 billion emergency relief fund (around €4.3 billion) to continue funding food aid through the Snap program. Trump subsequently stated that it first needed to be determined whether this was legally permissible. Jeffries expressed his dismay at the suspension of the Snap program, which had operated continuously for 60 years. "Donald Trump and his administration can find funding for other projects, but for some reason they can't raise the money to ensure Americans don't go hungry," he said.

Donald Trump has not ruled out military intervention in Nigeria over the killing of Christians there. "That could be. But other things too. I can imagine a lot of things," Trump said on Sunday (local time) aboard Air Force One when asked by reporters whether he could envision ground troops or airstrikes in Nigeria. "They are killing Christians on an unprecedented scale in Nigeria," Trump continued. "We will not allow that." Trump had already threatened military action on Saturday if Africa's most populous country did not take action against the violence against Christians. The threat came a day after his administration placed Nigeria back on a list of "countries of concern." According to the US, the nations on this list violate religious freedom. Other countries on the list include China, Myanmar , North Korea , Russia , and Pakistan .