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Sarah, a 44-year-old<\/span> single mother in Maryland, was down to the last $20 on her EBT card as of Monday, wondering how she would feed herself and her two preteen boys as the government shutdown dragged on. She\u2019d been out of work since May, after the Trump administration made sweeping cuts to federal contracts and eliminated her job in public health.<\/p>\n She had been rationing her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits for over a month, unsure of when, if ever, the deposit would hit her account again. \u201cIt\u2019s been awful,\u201d said Sarah, who asked to be identified by her first name only because she fears speaking out could hurt her job search. But the Maryland mom said she was willing to sacrifice if it meant millions of Americans could afford their health insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pitch they made, it made sense,\u201d Sarah told The Intercept. \u201cEveryone knew it was going to be painful, but it was important \u2026 and they just wasted it all.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On Sunday, a group of eight Democratic senators<\/a>, including Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., cut a deal with Republican leadership to end the government shutdown. They did it without forcing Republicans to agree to any of the major concessions Democrats said they were fighting to secure<\/a>, which included a reversal of Medicaid cuts and an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. The deal is slated for a vote in the House on Wednesday evening, and it looks likely to pass.<\/p>\n While Senate Republican leadership agreed to hold a vote on the subsidies, the legislation is more than likely dead in the water,<\/a> especially since Democrats forfeited their main piece of leverage. As a result, tens of millions of Americans are projected to see their premiums skyrocket, and an estimated 7.8 million low-income Americans<\/a> will outright lose their insurance through Medicaid.<\/p>\n The Intercept spoke with four SNAP recipients who said they\u2019re furious that Democrats squandered the sacrifice they made for the last month to ensure access to health care for millions of Americans \u2014 just as voters rewarded the party for finally fighting back against Republicans with major electoral victories last week<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe sacrificed and we would continue to sacrifice because we understood what the stakes were. People\u2019s health care was at stake,\u201d said Delight Worthyn, 67, a SNAP recipient with lupus living in New Haven, Connecticut. \u201cAnd that they would cave for nothing after we have all gone through this. \u2026 I only feel betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the Supreme Court has paused a federal judge\u2019s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for the month of November, some recipients have started receiving full or partial benefits. The SNAP funding available varies by state. <\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Sasha Slansky, 33, a full-time master\u2019s student at Queens College at the City University of New York who works a series of odd jobs to pay her bills, said it\u2019s \u201cinsulting\u201d for Democrats to use SNAP recipients as a justification for caving to Republicans and President Donald Trump.<\/strong> In his floor speech<\/a>, Durbin invoked SNAP recipients as one of the reasons he was agreeing to Republicans\u2019 shutdown deal.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care,\u201d said Slansky, noting that Democrats seem not to have taken into account the overlap between SNAP recipients and people who receive Medicaid and their insurance through the Affordable Care Act. \u201cIt\u2019s insane, and it\u2019s insulting, and it\u2019s also just so wildly out of touch.\u201d <\/p>\n\n