Vice President JD Vance's communications team slammed Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) following the governor's fiery speech on Friday, accusing Vance of being a "total phony" who abandoned his community in middle America.
The controversy stemmed from Trump and Vance's decision to withhold funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, during the federal government shutdown, despite multiple federal courts ruling that this was not allowed. The Supreme Court temporarily stayed those decisions.
Taylor Van Kirk, the vice president's press secretary, told Fox News in a statement Monday that Shapiro ought to "take a look in the mirror if he wants to see who is to blame for this Democrat shutdown." She continued, "While little Josh was whining like a child about the problems his own party created, the Trump administration has been crafting a deal with commonsense Democrats to reopen the government and fund SNAP benefits," and it's in fact Shapiro who "screwed over working-class men and women" by not demanding his fellow Democrats cave on their shutdown demands.
Shapiro drew the attention of political observers with his speech, which came as Pennsylvania joined other states suing to force the full release of SNAP money.
"J.D. Vance rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia, where there's a whole lot of people who get SNAP," said Shapiro. "He made millions of dollars on the backs of telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people who he likes to write about and claim is his own ... for J.D. Vance now to turn around after claiming all these things his whole life, and literally go to court to stop hungry people from eating, that is not only phony, it is shameful."
The deal to end the shutdown, while it has been criticized by many observers for not containing a firm promise to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies beyond an upcoming vote, did include a commitment to fully fund SNAP for over a year, as well as a reversal of the Trump administration's firings of federal workers that took place since the shutdown began.