Reed Rips Trump for Threatening to Defy Courts & Unlawfully Withhold SNAP

WASHINGTON, DC - Despite the fact that the Trump Administration has the money and authority to fully and immediately fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), President Trump appeared today threatened to defy court orders and withhold SNAP Assistance to 42 million low-income Americans until the end of the government shutdown.

SNAP is a nutrition assistance lifeline that helps feed 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million disabled Americans, and many more who struggle to make ends meet -- people who work hard but don't earn a living wage.

A day after saying his administration would comply with a federal court order and pay out at least half a month of SNAP benefits using contingency funds -- which Treasury Secretary Bessent said could happen as soon as tomorrow -- President Trump today seemed to pull an about face when he posted on social media that SNAP: "will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!"

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) blasted President Trump for willfully and wildly seeming to threaten SNAP benefits for millions of Americans across the country:

"It sure seems desperate and indecent to willfully withhold food aid from needy kids and seniors on fixed incomes. It would be indefensible for President Trump to try and take food off the plates of vulnerable children and inflict mass-suffering on their families. President Trump is trying to bully Americans. His budget would push millions more into poverty in order to give billionaires a bigger tax benefit. The government is supposed to work for the American people and improve their lives, not deny them services and shrink opportunity. As we approach Thanksgiving, I believe Americans will strongly condemn President Trump for trying to bully kids, the elderly, sick, disabled, and vulnerable. Democrats are fighting to lower prices, save health care, and reopen the federal government. And we will hold President Trump accountable."

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