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From the Editorial Board of America’s newspaper of record:

President Trump has played fast and loose with federal law during the current government shutdown to fund the things he considers important. He has found ways to pay military service members and F.B.I. agents. He has distributed tariff revenues to women with small children and arranged billions of dollars in financial support for Argentina. He has even ordered the Interior Department to keep federal lands open for hunting.

And what has Mr. Trump refused to fund?

As the shutdown enters its second month, the president still will not agree to an extension of the federal tax credits that allow millions of Americans to afford health insurance. Last week the Trump administration also said it would stop distributing food stamps to more than 40 million lower-income families, declining to tap the program’s emergency reserve fund.

A federal judge in Rhode Island intervened on Friday, ordering the administration to use the program’s reserves. A second federal judge, in Massachusetts, indicated that she was also prepared to rule against the administration if it did not agree to continue distributing food stamps. We urge the administration to abide by the decision and allow millions of Americans to receive food aid.

The government has never paused the distribution of food stamps, even during past shutdowns, and the threat is just one of the ways this shutdown is causing pain. More than a million federal workers are not being paid. The Small Business Administration is not making loans. Regulators are not conducting many routine safety inspections of food processing plants.

Mr. Trump and his congressional allies could end all of this by doing what they should have done months ago: making a deal. Under current Senate rules, Republicans manifestly do not have enough votes to pass a funding bill on their own, and it is absurd that they continue to insist that Democrats should simply acquiesce. The hard work of governing in a democracy is hammering out a compromise.

Mr. Trump already has sought to pile pressure on Democrats by suspending funding for projects in blue states, including the important Hudson River train tunnel between New Jersey and New York and mass transit in Chicago. The attempt to raise the stakes by suspending the distribution of food stamps is unconscionable. The administration would literally be keeping food from the mouths of hungry children.

Food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provide a monthly credit to millions of households that do not make enough money to feed themselves. Many recipients work low-wage jobs. Others are disabled or elderly.

The Agriculture Department, which administers the program, has an emergency reserve of $5.5 billion that could have been used to maintain benefits. During the last long shutdown, in Mr. Trump’s first term, the department said it would tap that fund to delay any interruption in the distribution of benefits. As recently as Sept. 30, the day before the current shutdown began, the department said that remained its plan. Instead, however, the Trump administration insisted the reserve was “not legally available” because it was meant for the aftermath of natural disasters.

Democrats, for their part, have remained united in their insistence that Republicans must agree to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits as part of any funding bill. They have resisted despite the pain Mr. Trump is causing because the credits are worth fighting for. The cost of health insurance plans sold through the A.C.A. marketplaces is set to rise sharply next year. The expiring tax credits would have shielded buyers from most of the increase. Without the credits, the average amount that people must pay each month is expected to rise to $159 from $74, according to KFF, a health research group.

For many, the difference — about $1,000 a year on average — would make the plans unaffordable. Indeed, one reason the premiums are rising is that insurers anticipate the cost increases will cause a significant number of relatively healthy people to drop their insurance, raising costs for everyone else.

Republicans say their party has become the party of the American working class. But many working families rely on the tax credits to afford health insurance. And many of those same families rely on food stamps to put enough food on the table. Mr. Trump can serve their needs by demonstrating his skills as a negotiator. It’s time to make a deal.