U.S. President Joe Biden and one of his top aides warned on Monday that a federal government shutdown could cause widespread suffering, including a rapid loss of food benefits for nearly 7 million low-income women and children.

Biden told a meeting on Historically Black Colleges and Universities that failure by Congress to fund the federal government would have dire consequences for the Black community, including by reducing nutritional benefits, inspections of hazardous waste sites and enforcement of fair housing laws.

He said he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had agreed a few months ago on spending levels for the government.

“We made a deal, we shook hands,” he said. “Now a small group of extreme House Republicans … don’t want to live up to that deal, and everyone in America could be faced with paying the price for it.”