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(Washington, D.C., October 28, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins published an opinion piece in Newsweek addressing Senate Democrats for holding out funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by keeping the government shutdown.
“Instead of focusing on reopening the government and keeping programs like SNAP and WIC functioning, or air traffic controllers and law enforcement officers paid, or the military funded, Senate Democrats are holding firm on propping up failed government programs with billions in health care subsidies that benefit corporations over people,” said Secretary Brooke Rollins. “It’s long past time to stop voting against the American people. Reopen the government. Fund these programs. End the theatrics and put the well-being of the American people first.”
Read the full piece below.
What began as a program for the neediest Americans, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps, has exploded to serve one in every eight Americans. The food stamp rolls have not only skyrocketed due to eligibility loopholes and regulatory boondoggles—each allowing for millions of work-capable adults with school age children to participate—but a program that has recently become a “leverage” point for Democrats in their self-inflicted government shutdown. Subsequently, nearly 42 million individuals, more than 22 million households—households including veterans, children and the elderly—are being held hostage to Chuck Schumer’s demands that at their core, prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens.
It is striking: one moment the program is held up as a moral imperative by Democrats, who at every farm bill, continuing resolution, or annual funding bill negotiation lambast Republicans to increase participation and funding for SNAP. The next, it becomes a leverage point for gender mutilation and health care for illegals. The neediest among us must not be treated as bargaining chips in the broader fight over spending, immigration, or whatever extraneous priorities are consuming Democrats’ attention.
So, the truth has revealed itself. Democrats’ support for programs like SNAP is now reduced to cynical control over people’s lives.
Instead of focusing on reopening the government and keeping programs like SNAP and WIC functioning, or air traffic controllers and law enforcement officers paid, or the military funded, Senate Democrats are holding firm on propping up failed government programs with billions in health care subsidies that benefit corporations over people. Not to mention exposing their far left agenda items: illegal aliens, open borders, gender mutilation and more. Meanwhile, millions of American citizens, including those reliant on SNAP, wait anxiously, wondering whether they can rely on the temporary safety net they were told existed for rough times. It is unconscionable. The very essence of government’s responsibility is to the citizens who live and work here—to protect their interests first.
Let’s be clear, when the government shuts down, seniors, children, veterans and vulnerable communities lose. This is not a theoretical critique. This is real life. Democrat Whip Katherine Clark said the quiet part out loud: “Of course there will be families that are going to suffer ... but it is one of the few leverage times we have."
Senate Democrats built much of their identity on being the party of “helping the helpless.” Now they are failing those very people, among millions of others, each reliant on a functioning U.S. government. President Donald Trump has made it clear: reopen the government, get government funding back on solid footing, restore the confidence of American families who count on programs like SNAP and stop treating them—and their well-being—as pawns in funding battles. Prioritize American citizens. Prioritize their children.
American citizens should come first. Those who need food assistance while between jobs, the elderly, disabled and children deserve more than political delay and brinksmanship. It’s long past time to stop voting against the American people. Reopen the government. Fund these programs. End the theatrics and put the well-being of the American people first.
Brooke L. Rollins is the 33rd United States Secretary of Agriculture.
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