By Jim Mishler | Friday, 31 October 2025 05:29 PM EDT
As two federal judges mandated the Trump administration to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for millions of Americans amid a government shutdown, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins criticized the program as “bloated” and “corrupt.”
Rollins joined House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at the Capitol for a media briefing on the federal government shutdown, focusing on the Trump administration’s efforts to address what she described as widespread waste and abuse within SNAP.
Rollins asserted that the shutdown has intensified scrutiny of the program, claiming it “has become so bloated, so broken, so dysfunctional, so corrupt that it is astonishing when you dig in.” She emphasized the administration’s push to exclude illegal aliens from receiving benefits, stating her department had instructed all 50 states to halt SNAP eligibility for such individuals. “No more illegal aliens on SNAP, period, full stop,” she said.
She highlighted allegations of fraudulent activity, including dozens of arrests and $50 million in identified fraud. “One guy’s registered for SNAP in six different states,” Rollins claimed. She also noted that while all Republican-led states and two Democratic-run states complied with requests to submit recipient data, others sued to block disclosure.
“The problem is you have an extremely corrupt program,” Rollins declared. She reiterated the administration’s goal of restoring SNAP to its original purpose of aiding “those who are truly needy” rather than enabling long-term dependency.
Johnson echoed similar sentiments, stating that government benefits were intended as temporary support, not lifelong subsidies. He criticized what he called the misuse of programs like SNAP and Medicaid, accusing “Marxists” and “socialists” of advocating for government overreach. “If the government can give you everything, it can take it away,” he warned.
