Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) declared President Donald Trump was using starving people as bargaining chips in the government shutdown.
Cooper said, “I know you are supportive of the judge’s rulings today. The president is saying he’s instructed his lawyers to seek clarity from the courts how they can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible. The deadline is tomorrow. I mean, the money, the payments stop. Is it clear if and when the millions who depend on SNAP benefits might actually have that restored?”
Klobuchar said, “This is absolutely ridiculous, Anderson, because on their own website, the administration’s website, USDA, which they mysteriously took down this week, they actually said that they knew that this SNAP contingency fund could be used in the event of a shutdown. Actually, they said congressional intent is evident, that SNAP operations should continue. So I’m not one bit surprised that these two judges, one in Massachusetts, one in Rhode Island, has said that they can do this and should do this. And so, the president himself has now said that it’s his honor to do this. Well, his honor in Rhode Island, this judge already told him he had to do it, ordered him to do it. And the judge in Massachusetts basically said the same thing and said, give us a plan Monday. People are starving. They’re using these people as bargaining chips when all he has to do is come to the table when he knows very well that people’s health care premiums are going out of control, and instead, he’s tweeting out pictures of his newly remodeled bathroom with gold chandeliers and a marble bathtub. That is not where Americans are right now. They’re looking at these premiums. They’re looking at how they’re going to get food on the table. He is completely out of touch with what the American people need.”
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