| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
A live look now from Norfolk, Virginia, as we wait for Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate in the Virginia's governor's race, to speak to supporters at a rally and expected to be joined by former President Obama. | |
| We'll bring you their remarks when they happen here on C-SPAN. | ||
| And as we wait, another discussion from our own Washington Journal from earlier today. | ||
| Washington Journal, let's start with the Washington Post headline about those court rulings. | ||
| It says the Trump administration must release billions in SNAP funds. | ||
| Judge says officials must act, quote, as soon as possible to avoid prolonged interruption. | ||
| A federal judge in Rhode Island said a Massachusetts judge also told the administration to consider contingency funds. | ||
| Now, President Trump did respond to that on Truth Social yesterday evening, and he said this in part, our government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available. | ||
| And now two courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do. | ||
| I do not want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and reopen the government. | ||
| Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible. | ||
| He continues, but let's take a look at what Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said yesterday. | ||
| So this would be before the ruling about those contingency funds. | ||
| The fact that the Democrats are saying, but wait, USDA has money in their accounts. | ||
| Why? | ||
| It is really their fault. | ||
| I've seen it over and over and over from some of their leaders is absolute false and it is a lie. | ||
| We have been saying on October 10th we sent messages out. | ||
| On October 24th we sent messages out. | ||
| These benefits end on November 1st. | ||
| Now, let me get down into a little bit of the details on that to better explain. | ||
| So there is a contingency fund at USDA, but that contingency fund, by the way, doesn't even cover, I think, half of the $9.2 billion that would be required for November SNAP, but it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded. | ||
| It's called a contingency fund. | ||
| And by law, contingency fund can only flow when the underlying fund is flowing. | ||
| So for example, if the underflow, if today the Democrats say, oh, never mind, sorry, we'll open the government and SNAP flows, Hurricane Melissa or one of the hurricanes hits, that's the contingency fund that we would use to send more money into the vulnerable communities that are harmed by a specific event like a hurricane. | ||
| But it is a contingency fund that can only flow if the underlying appropriation is approved. | ||
| And listen, even if it could flow, it doesn't even cover half of the month of November. | ||
| So here we are again in two weeks having the exact same conversation. | ||
| That was Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. | ||
| The Ag Department is the one that administers the SNAP program. | ||
| And we'll go to phones now. | ||
| Ralph in Manoa, New York, Democrat, good morning. | ||
| Ralph, what's your top news story of the week? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| Well, this week, one of the discussions is eliminating Senate Rule 22, the filibuster. | ||
| And that would really be a bad idea because if that happens, the Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate would pass a national right to work law that would decimate 80 million American workers that are covered under the National Labor Relations Act. | ||
| Now, although under the other major labor law, the Railway Labor Act, Railway Labor Act, where the Teamsters are covered under, there's no right to work division provision in it. | ||
| Also, Republican lawmakers would start to privatize Social Security. | ||
| That would give them the votes. | ||
| That's what they really want to do, turn Social Security, part of it, over their private sector and decimate Medicare. | ||
| So to eliminate Senate Rule 22 would be a very bad idea, and I thank you for your time. | ||
| All right, Ralph, and this is Joe and Bitterford, Maine, Independent. | ||
| Good morning, Joe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| I'm just jealous. | ||
| Ralph beat me on the line here this morning. | ||
| I thought I'd be first. | ||
| I'm kidding. | ||
| But thank you for taking my call. | ||
| My point I'd like to make is it's pretty obvious now that the Republicans have nothing but lies if we discuss the shutdown. | ||
| What the original go back to January in the big beautiful bill. | ||
| The Republicans promised you they weren't going to touch Medicaid, I guess, except for the $800 million that they took right out of it. | ||
| They lied to you, told you that they wouldn't. | ||
| It's obviously now that Medicaid is going to be cut. | ||
| No question about it. | ||
| Republicans told you that Elon Musk and Doge was going to save you, I think it was $2 trillion jumping up and down with their chainsaw. | ||
| Wasn't that fabulous? | ||
| Turns out now, I'm absolutely positive, but I don't know the amount it's going to cost. | ||
| The American taxpayers are going to have to pay. | ||
| All that money they said they're going to save never occurred. | ||
| They never saved the money from Medicare. | ||
| They never showed the fraud that they promised you they had. | ||
| They never showed you Mike Johnson telling you there's some fat guy sitting on a couch getting everything, Medicaid, everything from, you know, handouts to holy what. | ||
| And Elon Musk just signed a contract yesterday with SpaceX that gives him $2 billion. | ||
| So, you know, let's cut the crumpets here. | ||
| So, Joe, I just wanted to correct something. | ||
| You said $800 million cut from Medicaid for the One Big Beautiful bill is actually $900 billion with a B, and that's over 10 years. | ||
| So, just a quick correction there. | ||
| Robert, Indiana, Republican line. | ||
| Good morning, Robert. | ||
| What's your top news story of the week? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Our top news story is how much more forward can President Trump be? | |
| He takes his time to come out here and talk to the people. | ||
| He holds nothing back. | ||
| How many times did you see Biden? | ||
| Very several of them. | ||
| And they say they're lying, they're lying. | ||
| If they don't get this holding back up, yes, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to be hungry. |