Brooke Rollins Denies USDA Has Money to Fund SNAP as Suspension Looms

The Trump administration stated it wasn’t permitted to utilize a contingency fund with approximately $5 billion to fund SNAP.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks at a press conference during the 31st day of the government shutdown in Washington on Oct. 31, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins denied reports on Oct. 31 that her agency has money to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that will be cut or suspended for beneficiaries starting Nov. 1.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Rollins said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a contingency fund, but it doesn’t cover “even half” of what’s needed to provide funding for SNAP beneficiaries.

Also, “it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded,” Rollins said.

She added that the suggestion that the USDA has the money to pay for the program “is a lie.”

On Oct. 25, the Trump administration stated that it wasn’t permitted to utilize a contingency fund with approximately $5 billion in it to fund SNAP.

Democratic-led states have argued in a lawsuit against the federal government that not only can that contingency money be used, but it must be. They also said a separate fund with around $23 billion could be tapped.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that dispersing the full benefits would violate a law that bars the government from paying for programs without a congressional appropriation. In court papers, the federal government said partial payments would require complicated recalculations of benefits that could take weeks.

The lapse in funding for SNAP comes one month into a federal government shutdown. More than a dozen attempts to pass a measure to reopen the government have failed in the Senate since Oct. 1.

At issue are health care subsidies that are due to expire by the end of this year. Democrats want a reopening measure to include an extension of the subsidies, while Republicans say that talks on the extension can start only if the government is reopened.

On Oct. 31, both sides continued to make accusations against one another, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) trading barbs with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in separate news conferences.

“The Democrats continue with their political games in Washington,” Johnson said during the event alongside Rollins, accusing Democrats in the Senate of having “abandoned their post.”

In a post on X, Jeffries said that “it’s time for House Republicans to end their five-week vacation and reopen the government,” asserting that his party is fighting to preserve SNAP and health care subsidies.

President Donald Trump on Thursday evening suggested that Republicans in the Senate consider terminating the filibuster to pass the Republican stopgap funding bill and reopen the government.

The filibuster is a tactic used in the Senate to block a vote by extending debate indefinitely, and requires 60 votes to overcome. The GOP has 53 members in the upper chamber.

“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option—Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a family of four’s net income can’t exceed the federal poverty line, which is about $31,000 per year. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom were families with children, according to the lawsuit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.