USDA’s Rollins Rips Democrats Over ‘Lie’ About SNAP Funds

Democrats have spent weeks insisting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture could simply dip into its contingency accounts to keep SNAP (food stamp) benefits flowing during the ongoing Schumer Shutdown—even as they continue blocking every effort to reopen the government.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) repeated that claim Wednesday, arguing that the Trump administration “has the funding to make sure that not a single American on November 1st or beyond goes hungry.”

“They have the money,” Jeffries said. “But they are choosing to withhold funding for SNAP because they want to punish hungry children, hungry veterans, hungry seniors, hungry women, and hungry families as part of their continued effort to hurt everyday Americans.”

But at a House Republican press conference on Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins made clear that the Democratic talking point is not only misleading—it is false.

The event also highlighted reforms to address waste, fraud, and abuse inside the SNAP program, reforms Democrats have repeatedly refused to support.

Rollins said the showdown has exposed the hollowness of Democrats’ long-crafted image as defenders of the poor.

“The fact that the Democrats are saying, ‘But wait, USDA has money in their accounts’ … is a lie,” Rollins said.

She confirmed that USDA twice informed states in October that SNAP benefits would stop November 1 if Democrats continued blocking funding in the Senate. She also noted that the $5.3 billion contingency fund often cited by Democrats is short of the $9.2 billion needed to cover November benefits.

“There is a contingency fund at USDA,” Rollins said. “But it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded.”

In other words: Congress must reopen the government for USDA to legally release any reserves.

House Republicans already passed a clean continuing resolution on September 19 to keep the government open and fund programs like SNAP. Senate Democrats have now voted 14 times to block it—demanding new federal benefits for illegal immigrants and expanded Obamacare subsidies as conditions to reopen the government.

But late Friday, two federal judges—Indira Talwani in Massachusetts and John McConnell in Rhode Island, both Obama appointees—ordered the Trump administration to release the contingency funds anyway, disregarding the statutory requirement that the underlying program be funded first.

“There is no doubt that the contingency funds are appropriated funds that are necessary to carry out the program’s operation,” McConnell wrote.

Talwani went further, suggesting the administration could raid separate nutrition accounts to backfill SNAP, even though USDA officials warned that doing so would disrupt other programs.

Even with the court mandates, USDA cautions that state payment systems may not be able to restart benefits immediately—potentially delaying support for millions of families.

President Donald J. Trump reiterated that the solution is straightforward:

“All the Democrats have to do is say, let’s go,” Trump said. “They don’t have to do anything — all they have to do is say the government is open.”