‘We can’t give everything away’: Trump suggests SNAP money goes to people who don’t want to work

The Trump administration appealed a federal order to fully fund SNAP benefits for the month of November.

President Donald Trump defended his administration’s decision to only partially disburse SNAP to more than 42 million Americans, before ultimately appealing a federal judge’s order to fully fund the food assistance program.

“We have to remain liquid. We can’t give everything away based on a number,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday night. “Our country has to remain very liquid because problems, catastrophes, wars, could be anything.”

On Friday, the Trump administration asked an appeals court to pause a ruling from Judge John McConnell, appointed by President Barack Obama, that ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find additional money to make SNAP payments in full for November.

Trump suggested that the government may be spending too much on SNAP and that the costs for the food assistance program were lower during his first term than when Joe Biden was president. He implied that the Biden White House provided SNAP services to people who didn’t need them — including those who don’t want to work.

“When I was president, the number that you’re talking about was a tiny fraction of what it is now. Biden went totally crazy. Gave it to anybody that would ask,” the president claimed. He continued, “Gave it to people that were able-bodied, had no problem. Anybody that would ask….This wasn’t meant for that. It was meant for people that had real problems. In many cases, people that were down and out, people that could be saved. “

Trump added, “It wasn’t meant for people that could do whatever they want. The people that say, ‘Well, I don’t think I’ll work. I’ll just, you know, collect this money.'”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 89% of households with children and a working-age, non-disabled adult included at least one member who worked. Most workers who receive SNAP have low-wage jobs and need the federal assistance to make ends meet.

Among the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits, 11 million are Black Americans.

The court battle to fully fund SNAP is taking place amid the ongoing government shutdown, which has become the longest in U.S. history at 37 days.

President Trump and Republicans in Congress have so far refused to negotiate with Democrats, who are demanding that enhanced Obamacare subsidies be restored to avoid skyrocketing premiums next year. Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” passed on July 4, eliminated the health care tax credits that were established in 2021.

Democrats have rebuked the Trump administration for both its refusal to fully fund SNAP and restore health insurance credits to reduce costs for American patients.

“I work alongside people who speak with a mouthful of scriptures but seem to carry a heart full of hate, and would have you believe that there is a deficit of resource, when in fact, there’s just a deficit of empathy,” said U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., during a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee meeting.

“They perpetuate stereotypes of struggle when we all know that struggle does not discriminate. It finds all of us. We’re all just one disruptive life event away. Losing a spouse, losing a child, losing a job, having an illness. One disruptive life of away,” said the congresswoman.

She added, “Poverty and struggle are not moral failings. They are not character flaws. The flaws are that we have systems that are broken and lawmakers that do not see themselves in their neighbors. They don’t see the humanity of their neighbors.”