The number of programs that depend on government money are many. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is just one of them. SNAP provides food stamps and benefits to 45 million Americans. It helps ensure that as few children as possible go to bed hungry at night. If Congress does not pass the new government funding law, SNAP may have to stop all benefits within the first few days of October.

Simply put, the USDA does not have the funding to run the food and supplements benefits program on its own. It relies on government funding to feed families in America that rely on these benefits for all or some of their food.

The USDA had contingency funds to use in the case of an emergency. But these funds dried up when the government shut down in October of 2013. The USDA also does not have the benefit of receiving the funding that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security receive.

The idea that 45 million Americans may go without food for weeks, or even months, is not only tragic. It is embarrassing. Washington D.C. is currently playing host to the Pope. The current pope has become known for his work with the destitute and poor. Yet, Congress is willing to starve millions of children to settle a political score as this man tours America.

Republican leaders insist that the showdown won’t result in a shutdown. But certain Republican Congressmen assure their colleagues that they will do everything in their power to shut down the government if they do not get their way.

The shutdown revolves around the federal funding that Planned Parenthood receives. Earlier this summer, a pro-life activist group released doctored videos that claimed that Planned Parenthood was acting illegally.

These videos were false. Investigations revealed evidence of the film being doctored. Yet, a select group of Republicans have taken the issue and run with it. Now, they threaten to cut not only funding for Planned Parenthood but the funding for the entire government through a shutdown.

This proves how morally and economically irresponsible that this group of Republicans are acting. It does not help that the fire continues to be fueled by false claims from several candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination. This only adds visibility to the claims that have been deemed to be ‘mostly false’ by independent parties like Politifact.

Once again, a group of Republicans do not mind seeing the suffering of Americans if it means that they can take a single political win. It has not even been two years since the last time a group of hard right conservatives were willing to hold the government hostage to avoid policies they disagreed with.

The Republican party needs to stand up to those intent on shutting down the government. There are no winners in this kind of battle. Right now some of the biggest losers are not Democrats but 45 million American citizens to who depend on the government to stop their families from starving.