Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struggled Sunday to explain why the Trump administration has hesitated to use available funds to support Americans receiving food assistance, citing “the courts” and saying he was unsure how the administration could legally release the money.
Around 42 million Americans missed their food assistance payments Saturday – including 16 million children – under the Supplemental Food Assistance Program as the government remains shut down over a dispute over health care subsidies. And yet, while the Trump administration has used alternative funding to pay active service members amid the shutdown, it has refused to tap into a $6 billion pool of emergency funds earmarked specifically for programs like SNAP.
“There is this contingency fund, and as recently as Sept. 30th, the Agriculture Department had a memo saying that these funds – I think about $6 billion – could be used to pay these benefits,” said CNN’s Jake Tapper, speaking with Bessent Sunday. “Now, it'd only be two or three weeks, but that's a lot for people who need the food.”
Bessent pivoted to blaming “the courts,” citing a social media post from Trump on Friday in which he claimed that “two courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do” regarding funding SNAP.
“Well, President Trump just Truthed out that he's very anxious to get this done, and it's gotta go through the courts,” Bessent said. “The court keeps jamming up things, Democrats are in the middle of a civil war, and they should just open the government, that is the easiest way to do this.”
However, federal courts have not issued conflicting rulings on the matter.
In Massachusetts, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to suspend SNAP benefits during the shutdown was “unlawful,” and ordered the administration to tap into the emergency funds to make at least partial payments. And in Rhode Island, another federal judge issued a similar ruling.
Tapper pushed back on Bessent’s pivot to blame the courts, asking the Treasury Secretary to clarify his statement.
“Is the administraiton going to appeal the ruling by the judge, is that what you mean by the courts need to weigh in?” Tapper said. “Because the courts have weighed in.”
Stuttering his words, Bessent proclaimed that the Trump administration was still working to “figure out” the legal process that would allow SNAP payments to be sent out.
“Uh, no, but… there's a process that has to be followed, so we've got to figure out what the process is,” Bessent said. “President Trump wants to make sure that people get their food benefits.”
“So it could be done by Wednesday?” Tapper asked.
“Could be,” Bessent responded. “Could be, and five Democratic senators could cross the aisle and open the government by Wednesday.”
