Speaker of the House Mike Johnson quickly stepped in to correct a cabinet member and create an awkward scene over who is to blame for the government shutdown and SNAP food benefits going unpaid.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appealed to the more than 40 million Americans who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a press conference Friday morning, saying “the government is failing” those by not addressing food insecurity issues.
“My message to America is, first, the fact that your government is failing you, right now,” Rollins began. “That poverty is not red or blue, it is not a Republican or Democrat issue, doesn’t matter who you voted for or even if you voted.”
“That if you are in a position where you can’t feed your family and you’re relying on that $187 a month for an average family in the SNAP program, that we have failed you,” she continued.
The agriculture secretary went on to blame Democrats for the government shutdown, accusing them of holding vulnerable families “hostage” to their policies. But Johnson appeared unsatisfied with her initial response.
“Let’s clarify, when she says ‘we have failed you, ‘ she means ‘we,’ the Democrats, OK?” Johnson said after quickly stepping up to the lectern after Rollins.
He went on to give his usual stump, blaming Democrats for the state of the government – a position President Donald Trump has had his entire administration maintain since the start of the shutdown in September.
Tensions between the two parties have been growing over the last week as both sides point fingers at who is to bear responsibility if SNAP recipients cannot receive payments for food on November 1, when funding is set to lapse.
Rollins said the administration will not tap into its $5 billion contingency fund for SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps, come this weekend. She claims they do not have the legal standing to do so – though Democrats disagree with that, citing a previous contingency plan from the Agriculture Department and past shutdown plans.
After Rollins’s comment at the press conference, several Democratic lawmakers were quick to use her words against the administration.
“Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House,” Texas Rep. Julie Johnson wrote on X. “Yes, Trump, his administration, and Republicans in Congress are failing the American people.”
New York Rep. Ritchie Torres quoted Rollins, calling it “a rare moment of introspection” from “Republicans, who control all three branches of government.”
“Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees SNAP, in a press conference with Speaker Johnson, says her ‘message to America’ is ‘We have failed you,’” Virginia Rep. Don Beyer wrote on X.
“The first step in the 12-step program is admitting you have a problem,” Illinois Rep. Sean Casten said. “I just wish she was at the point of making amends to the millions of Americans she has harmed by her actions.”
