WASHNGTON — Under public opinion and court pressure, President Trump agreed to resume federal nutritional aid to 42 million needy people – but only by half. The Trump decision means the usual monthly SNAP grant of $185 will be only $82 for the month. Ironically Thanksgiving 2025 falls on the fourth Thursday in November. With his “half-loaf” tactic, Trump will continue to hold millions of needy people as leverage in his stand-off with Congress over his proposed help-the-rich federal budget. Unclear is whether the Trump’s “half loaf” will satisfy federal judges who ordered him to restore SNAP benefits. Also unclear are details of the mechanisms inside the Trump Administration that unsettled, indeed panicked SNAP recipients. There were political analysts who surmised that Trump’s agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, may have acted against SNAP without consulting or at least not briefing fully. The deduction is that Rollins figured that Trump would be pleased. It is the U.S. Department Agriculture that administers the SNAP program. Rollins’ credentials for running USDA have been suspect since Trump appointed her in January. Although she majored in agriculture in college, her career has been ideological not agricultural. Oh, yes, don’t forget she was active in her high school Future Farmers club. Her career has been in right-wing politics, mostly behind the scenes. She was at the Federalist Society to help write the Project 2025 blueprint for Trump to remake government and expand presidential powers. Critics say Trump chose Rollins for her personal loyalty to him, not for being an expert in the intricacies of farm issues or USDA practices or for any managerial competence — a similar criticism of other Trump cabinet members.
Earlier: Wisconsin into “emergency” on hunger issue
Earlier: Nutrition crisis
Rollins. Trump’s cabinet member for agriculture. Age 53.
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Rollins. Never a friend of the SNAP, Rollins has claimed te program is fraught with corruption by state-level agencies that are negligent in administering federal. grants. As recently as last week, Rollins said her investigators had found SNAP “fraud and abuse,” which she said led to “dozens of arrests” and “people going to jail.” She offered neither numbers nor evidence of widespread problems but seemed obsessed that immigrants were being fed. “The silver lining in all this,” she said, “is we’re having a conversation on SNAP. She is inclined to the tired “welfare queen” mantra of Republicans from the last century. A few months ago she demanded that state governments turn over their lists of SNAP recipents. Most states refused, seeing the demand as a witch hunt to instill shame and fear among SNAP recipients.