(NewsNation) — Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins confirmed to NewsNation on Wednesday that the Trump administration will use contingency funds to provide partial SNAP benefits in November.
Last week, two judges issued rulings ordering the Trump administration to use the approximately $5 billion in contingency funding set aside by Congress to fund SNAP amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Rollins told NewsNation that even though the administration doesn’t believe it is constitutional to use the funding, “The president said, ‘Let’s get these benefits to the people that need them the most.'”
She explained that the “contingency fund is reliant on the fact that there’s an … underlying and appropriated program, which there isn’t right now.”
Approximately 42 million Americans, or nearly 1 in 8, rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, to make ends meet.
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In response to a question about when the funds would be available, Rollins replied: “It depends on the state. (Be)cause they all have different structures.”
Trump contradicts previous statements
In a social media post Tuesday, Trump contradicted previous White House statements that it would fund 50% of SNAP benefits for November using the contingency funds, as previously reported by NewsNation.
“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly “handed” to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he said.
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified to reporters that the president is not planning to defy the court order.
“The best way to get the full amount of SNAP benefits is to reopen the government,” she said. “The president doesn’t want to keep dipping into this contingency fund.”
