Transcription
It takes a lot to shock me these days, but what just happened between the Trump administration and the US Supreme Court did exactly that. So, here's the deal.
The government shuts down, which means the funding for food stamps or the SNAP program doesn't get allocated. Luckily, there is a contingency fund for exactly this situation. They can use it, but they don't want to because the Republicans want to be able to leverage starving Americans to reopen the government without extending health care subsidies, which is what the Democrats want. Trump and Republicans are essentially pitting the sick against the hungry because they don't care about either, which means they need to come up with an excuse not to use those contingency funds. And what the Republicans land on was that they would definitely totally love to use the contingency funds, but they can't because it's illegal.
Here's Mike Johnson making that claim. "Well, look, I can tell you the the administration has worked, as you all know, very creatively and very hard to uh limit the pain on the Americans because of the Democrats shutdown. And uh the the SNAP benefits is unique situation. I got a summary of the whole legal analysis and it it certainly looks legitimate to to me. The the contingency funds are not legally available to cover the benefits right now. The reason is because it's it's a finite uh source of funds. It was appropriated by Congress and if they transfer funds from these other sources, it pulls it away immediately from school mills and infant formula. So there it's it's a a trade-off."
Quote, "Contingency funds are not legally available to cover SNAP benefits right now." Bummer. They really wanted to use that contingency fund because they really care about making sure 42 million Americans get food, but it's out of their hands. They want to, but it's illegal. Only small problem. A district court in Rhode Island ordered that the Trump administration must distribute the contingency money timely or as soon as possible for the November 1st payment to be made. That order came shortly after a district court in Massachusetts also found that the decision to halt SNAP benefits was quote unlawful, saying, "Congress has put money in an emergency fund. It's hard for me to understand how this isn't an emergency when there's no money and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits."
Great news. Two separate judges ruled that the contingency funds not only can be used in this situation, but that they must be used in this situation. Mike Johnson and Donald Trump must be thrilled because they of course wanted to access that contingency fund. They just didn't want to do anything illegal. And if we know anything about these MAGA Republicans, it's that they're one red line is running a foul of the law. So, it's all good, right?
No. Because right after that ruling was handed down, the Trump administration appealed the ruling. In other words, they claimed that they really wanted to pay SNAP benefits, but lied and said they couldn't access the contingency fund. Two judges then ordered them to use those funds. Now Trump is suing so as not to use the funds that he initially said he had no authority to use. Does that sound like someone who wants people to get fed? Or does it sound like someone who is trying to weaponize hunger to get what they want, which is the government to reopen with no ACA subsidies so that healthcare prices surge. Take all the time you need with that one.
So, of course, when the Trump administration was confronted on this, JD Vance was perfectly content to immediately step in and move the goalposts. "Look, Jackie, it's an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown, which what we'd like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government. And of course, then we can fund SNAP and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people. But in the midst of a shutdown, we can't have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation. We're trying to keep as much turned on. We're trying to keep as much going as possible. The president and the entire administration are working on that, but we're not going to do it under the orders of a federal judge. We're going to do it according to what we think we have to do to comply with the law, of course, but also to actually make the government work for people in the midst of the Democrat government shutdown."
So now, it's not that it's illegal to tap into the contingency funds. It's simply that the administration doesn't want to be told what to do by a judge. This isn't about food. It's about principle. It's about the autonomy of the executive branch. This is about Donald Trump and JD Vance retaining their power. And if a cool 42 million Americans have to starve for them to make that point, well, damn it, that's a stand they're willing to take. Because while one in eight Americans might go hungry, our real priority should be making sure that Trump and Vance never feel that their full control of government is even 1% diluted.
And so, of course, the White House appeals the ruling to the US Supreme Court. And here's what the Supreme Court said.
>> So in plain English, what does this ruling actually mean for people who depend on these benefits?
>> It means there is a very temporary pause on the district court judge's ruling that the program needed to be fully funded today. What we have is, as you said, Justice Kanji Brown Jackson. She's the Supreme Court justice in charge of this circuit saying we need to give the Court of Appeals a moment to make a decision on this appeal to that first circuit. So, what we had this morning is a district court judge saying to the Trump administration, basically, I think you're dragging your feet. Fund the program fully now. Fund it today. Don't wait anymore. The Trump administration then went to the first circuit and appealed that decision. The first circuit refused to pause that decision and basically said, "We need a minute. We're going to decide. We're going to decide quickly." The Trump administration then went to the Supreme Court tonight and said, "We need at least an administrative stay, the most temporary of pauses." And Justice Katanji Brown Jackson agreed. And so now a lot of people are in limbo.
So what's the actual timing when a real decision could be made?
>> Uh so it's an estimate at this point. The first circuit said we're going to move really quickly. Justice Katanji Brown Jackson said you need to move really quickly. I think we're looking at not tonight, but I really think we could get something potentially within the next few days. We're not looking at weeks here. We're not looking at months. Everybody understands what we're talking about. We're talking about one in eight Americans being able to have any or full SNAP benefits.
>> So, what we're looking at is a very temporary stay while a lower court decides this case on the merits. But while the courts make a decision, I don't want to miss the forest for the trees here. These Republicans told us that the only reason they can't make sure 42 million Americans get fed is because they were legally barred from tapping into a contingency fund. Then a judge orders them to do exactly that. And these people sue so as not to do it. They are literally begging judges not to force them to feed people. Judges are demanding that Americans get fed and Trump is fighting against it. And this is the pro- family party. 16 million of those 42 million Americans are children. What about protecting the kids? Or was that just a campaign slogan to get elected and now that you're actually in office, the kids can starve? That's all this boils down to. Trump and Republicans are starving children because they want political leverage. Period.
I asked Gavin Newsome about the depraved scheme that the Republicans are running right now during our latest interview. Here's what he had to say.
"In the leadup to this whole fight about whether food assistance would be released to Americans, you have Mike Johnson saying every day that there is nothing we could do. We can't possibly touch this contingency fund because we need to make sure that at some arbitrary point in the future that we have a contingency fund, some some other emergency, but not this emergency. So they brought this thing into court. There were two judges, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, both of whom said that you have to release these funds, that this is an emergency just like any other emergency would be. People are going to go hungry right now. And the Trump administration's response to that was to say we're going to appeal. And so what is your reaction to the fact that even notwithstanding the fact that that fighting this battle unto itself is bad enough when they could have been when they could have been releasing these funds alone on in the contingency fund. But then to go into court and say we're not even going to take yes for an answer. We're not even going to accept the political cover that the judges are giving us. We're going to actually fight this to make sure that these funds don't go out."
>> How do we even unpack that? Everything you said is spot on. And by the way, we were really proud in California to be lead, one of the leads on that lawsuit and very proud of this judge to state the obvious who looked at the actual language that said the USDA shall appropriate contingency funds. And that includes, by the way, considerations for exactly what occurred, a government shutdown. That literally on September 30th, the USDA put out a press release saying these funds are available for precisely that use in case there is a government shutdown, only to see that disappear on their website. And now they're trying to erase any consciousness or memory or any sense of decency on behalf of the American people. Look, you'd expect that of Donald Trump. Let's push that aside. But you started that question, >> with Mike Johnson, >> right? The the the the most pious man in Washington DC. >> Like that word pious. It's a good way to describe him who's competing for bloation, and lies with Donald Trump. It's extraordinary what comes out of his mouth increasingly. It is beyond the pale. This is the the indecency of a man of faith, of someone that literally he read the same Bible I did. You look at Isaiah, you look at Luke, you look at Matthew, you look at Proverbs, Old Testament, New Testament. One of the central themes in the Bible, the central themes, it it's not a suggestion. It's about the alignment to the Almighty, to God. It's a question of hunger and food. No decency, sir. Disproportionate number of people that will be impacted in his home district, let alone his home state. And so look, we can state the obvious, the state of mind of Donald Trump, the derangement that he's going to use hunger, starvation to put families, children during the holidays, the absurdity that as he's celebrating a, as you suggest, no longer 300, it's likely to be $350 million monstrosity of 90,000 square foot ballroom where he's demanding $230 million from the American people for some tithing because of his feeling agrieved about legal affairs in past where he's sitting there at Mara Lago around the roaring 20s as we are paying the highest taxes since the 1930s in terms of these tariff taxes and we just paid more as I said for Halloween candy and we're paying record prices for toys in a matter of weeks for Christmas. So look, frankly, I don't care what your political affiliation is. If you have a basic basic sense of humanity, you can see that this administration what they're doing is sick and twisted. They not only can feed hungry Americans, not only can feed hungry children, but were ordered to feed hungry Americans, were ordered to feed hungry children. And they are begging judges to sidestep that responsibility. They want people to starve because they need that leverage to reopen the government without a deal on healthcare. One way or the other, they're going to make sure to screw you over. And if it means you get starved or get sick, that's a price they're clearly willing to have you pay. This is what Republican governance looks like in action. Remember this because the next election is a referendum on this.
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