WASHINGTON — A top United States congressional Democrat on Sunday accused Republicans of choosing to "weaponize hunger", as a prolonged government shutdown disrupts critical food benefits for millions of low-income people.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned that the Republican Party was "unserious" about reopening the government, which has remained shuttered for five weeks, delivering a multibillion-dollar hit to the economy and leading to sharp accusations from both sides of the political aisle.

He accused Republicans — many of whom have stayed away from Washington for weeks as the Republican leadership keeps the House of Representatives idle — of manufacturing a crisis, including the lapse of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food aid to more than 42 million US citizens.

"We want to reopen the government, we want to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually makes life better for everyday Americans," Jeffries told CNN's State of the Union talk show.

"It's very unfortunate that (President) Donald Trump and Republicans have decided to weaponize hunger and withhold SNAP benefits, even in contravention of two federal courts which have made clear that not a single person in this country should go without their nutritional assistance."

A federal judge recently ordered the government to use emergency funds to ensure the continuity of SNAP. But officials said it was too late to stop recipients from losing benefits on Saturday and that restoring them could likely take at least one week.

One in eight in the US use SNAP but its halt will disproportionately hurt black people, who are 12.6 percent of the population but more than one-fourth of SNAP recipients.

"Donald Trump and his administration (are) finding funding for other projects, but somehow they can't find money to make sure that Americans don't go hungry," Jeffries said.

In addition, with temperatures beginning to drop in areas across the US, some states are warning that funding for the $4.1 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program is being delayed because of the shutdown.

The anticipated delay comes as a majority of the 5.9 million households served by the federally funded heating and cooling assistance program are grappling with the sudden postponement of benefits through SNAP. Money is running out for other safety net programs as well and energy prices are soaring.

"The impact, even if it's temporary, on many of the nation's poor families is going to be profound if we don't solve this problem," said Mark Wolfe, executive director at the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents state directors of the program.

Agencies Via Xinhua