One of the talking points Democrats have been hammering over the last couple of weeks of the Schumer Shutdown is that the USDA allegedly has contingency funding for SNAP that it could release before benefits run out, which will happen on November 1st.
Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), for example, said Wednesday that “The administration has the funding to make sure that not a single American on November 1st or beyond goes hungry. Not a single American.”
“They have the money,” he proclaimed, “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.”
SEE ALSO: Media Tries Some Schumer Shutdown Talking Points on Mike Johnson, He’s Having None of It
During a House GOP press conference on Friday, however, House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins shredded Jeffries and the suggestion, calling it an outright lie.
The presser was held in part to address waste, fraud, and abuse in SNAP, efforts that House and Senate Democrats have also opposed, as both Rollins and Johnson pointed out. In her opening remarks, Rollins correctly observed how this battle had further exposed the so-called “party of the people” as reaffirming that they were the opposite of that, with their purported support for SNAP being “reduced to cynical control over people’s lives.”
Watch:
🚨Sec. Rollins STEAMROLLS Democrat Talking Points:
“Democrats’ support for programs like SNAP is now reduced to cynical control over people’s lives. This last month has shown that the party who constantly says it puts people over politics, does the complete opposite.” pic.twitter.com/cymaKesCR6
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 31, 2025
As to alleged USDA funding for SNAP, Rollins corrected and clarified the record on that as well:
“The fact that the Democrats are saying, ‘But wait, USDA has money in their accounts’ … is a lie,” Rollins said during a House Republican news conference.
Rollins said the USDA notified state administrators of the federal program twice in October that SNAP benefits would end Nov. 1.
[…]
Rollins pushed back on that idea Friday, saying the contingency fund wouldn’t be sufficient to cover the $9.2 billion that is needed to pay SNAP benefits in November and that the contingency monies are only allowed to be used if the underlying appropriation is funded.
The appropriations bills to fund the government are currently in limbo because Republicans’ stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21 –– and allow for those appropriations to be negotiated –– has not passed [the Senate].
“There is a contingency fund at USDA… but it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded,” Rollins stated.
Watch:
🚨WATCH: Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins explains why the Trump administration cannot keep SNAP benefits going if the government remains shut down. pic.twitter.com/CnLKeh1Non
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) October 31, 2025
In other words, it’s the Democrats’ refusal to reopen the government and agree to the clean continuing resolution that passed the House on Sept. 19th that is hindering the USDA from releasing any contingency funds.
Further, the onus shouldn’t be on the USDA anyway to fund SNAP on a so-called contingency basis that boils down to Democrats holding the government hostage. Funding for programs like SNAP is Congress’s role, and Democrats have abdicated on their responsibility in that regard, voting 14 times on the Senate side to refuse to reopen the government over healthcare for illegals and an extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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