Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins doubled down after claiming meals in the United States cost $3 each.
According to the secretary, she asked a team of economists to estimate the cost of a meal.
"And I don't want any funny business with numbers," she recalled telling the group in a Tuesday interview. "Like, I really want to know what that looks like because we had run almost 1,000 simulations. And between $3 and $4 is a fair number if you can have access to that food."
"So just about an hour ago, I saw new numbers that were run a full day, meaning three full square meals and a snack is about $15.64," she continued. "That's all three meals and a snack. So we'll be talking more about that in the coming days and weeks."
Rollins said she "cringed" at the criticism she received after claiming meals cost $3.
"I grew up with a single mom in a really small town and certainly never meant to be flippant," she insisted. "But I also think that the left or those that were attacking me perhaps know that this is an issue that 90% of Americans agree on."
Rollins faced the criticism after her initial comments to NewsNation went viral, with one representative calling them "a slap in the face to struggling working families."
"We've run over 1,000 simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, a corn tortilla, and one other thing," she said at the time.
