Tim Skubick

Are you putting food on your table for Thanksgiving?

For the 1.4 million state residents who rely on federal food assistance to answer that question, at this read the answer may be no.

On Friday of last week that’s how this week’s installment was headed and it was not going to be pretty.

But alas, two federal judges later on Friday slammed the Trump administration for breaking the law and ordered a restoration of the desperately needed federal food assistance program for the 13% of the families in Michigan who need the sustenance.

However before writing another word here, given the track record of the president to challenge the courts at every turn when they take a chunk out of his agenda, you could almost predict this would go to a higher court.

Wrong with a capital W.

In a statement on social media, the president reassured anxious families that help was on the way.

“If given the appropriate legal direction by the court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”

End of story.

Well not quite. You might be interested to learn how the legislature and the governor tried to address this food emergency before the president made his statement. And, as it turns out, for the critics in this town, that turned out to be a missed opportunity for all the players to demonstrate their bi-partisan chops for the second time in two weeks.

The lawmakers and governor got high marks for resolving the budget stalemate without an ugly government shutdown here but when confronted with this SNAP crisis, they snapped into action but in different directions. There was nothing bi-partisan about it.

This was a no-brainer teed up for action. Somebody could have called all the sides into the room, locked the door, cut off the food supply and stated the obvious, “boys and girls we’ve got to find some way to help our 1.4 million residents, mostly kids, the elderly and the disabled. So let’s get started.”

But instead of locking arms and getting the job done, everyone went to their separate corners.

Last Thursday the House Democrats offered a solution which never got out of the dugout let alone to first base.

Next up the Democratically controlled state senate. The leadership rushed a measure to the floor to allocate $71 million for food banks. It was quickly adopted with only four dissenting GOP votes. It was a bi-partisan agreement but it would not take effect until long after the food program ended on November first. One GOP senator mocked it as “political theatre.”

About two hours after that, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer got into the act. She completely ignored what her Democrat amigos floated and opted instead for an emergency $4.5 state stipend for food banks around the state. The food bank leaders told her it would help to feed folks for about two weeks.

Next up was House GOP Speaker who continued his cooperation with the governor by promptly declaring the senate Democratic plan DOA and embracing the $4.5 million the governor wanted.

He reported that tucked away in the new state budget was a $30 million fund that could be tapped again to provide more aid. “We will monitor this week by week” he told reporters and act accordingly. Meanwhile he also announced the House adopted a resolution urging Congress to act like the Michigan legislature and end the shutdown post haste.

It, of course, was a non-binding suggestion to the powers-at-be in D.C. or putting it another way, it was not worth the paper it was printed on.

The Speaker blasted the senate D’s for playing politics for the umpteenth time. The governor did not join in that chorus but the fact that she never commented on what her senate colleagues did, said something without saying anything.

And then Mr. Trump did something that nobody expected. He took them off the hook.

If things don’t change, those SNAP families in Michigan will have food on the Thanksgiving table. It may not be a feast but they will be thankful for what they have as they ponder what might have been.