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unidentified
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Our host, renowned author and civic leader, David Rubenstein. | |
| So what about this fact, about this occurrence, made you think this could be something worth your time? | ||
| And I started to realize that this odd little old manuscript contained, you know, the seeds of one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and mayhem I had ever come across. | ||
|
unidentified
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Watch America's Book Club with David Graham this Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN. | |
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| Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
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| Midco supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| Next, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro gives an update on the state of SNAP food assistance benefits in his state amid the federal government shutdown. | ||
| Governor Shapiro praises the work of nonprofit organizations in the state, which are filling the gaps left by the loss of federal funds, and emphasizes the necessity for a solution to the funding lapses for food assistance programs. | ||
| Are we good to go? | ||
| Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us here today on short notice. | ||
| I wanted the opportunity to give you an important update on SNAP and the work we've all collectively been doing to make sure our fellow Pennsylvanians get the food that they need. | ||
| First, let me just recognize George, who runs CHARE. | ||
| He's been a really good friend, and CHARE has been an extraordinary, extraordinary organization feeding our fellow Pennsylvanians. | ||
| George, I'm grateful to you. | ||
| I'm grateful to your entire team here at CHARE. | ||
| And Lori and I enjoy being here volunteering, and we love seeing your expansion and the important work you're doing. | ||
| I also want to thank Lori Jones Brown from Phil Abundance. | ||
| Lori does a great job leading Phil Abundance, where I was just a few days ago making an important announcement in this space. | ||
| And so, Lori, we're grateful that you joined us here at CHARE today. | ||
| And of course, I'm joined by the Secretary of the Department of Human Services here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dr. Val Arkush. | ||
| And so we're grateful to the important work that she does every single day. | ||
| As I've mentioned before, but I think it bears repeating, SNAP is something that impacts a whole bunch of Pennsylvanians, two million Pennsylvanians, to be exact. | ||
| It means one out of every eight of our neighbors across this Commonwealth rely on SNAP. | ||
| Over 700,000 Pennsylvania children rely on SNAP. | ||
| And here in just the city of Philadelphia, 472,000 of our fellow Pennsylvanians right here in Philadelphia rely on SNAP. | ||
| So I just want to give you a sense of how important this is to families all across Pennsylvania. | ||
| When SNAP was taken away from our fellow Pennsylvanians, we saw an immediate impact. | ||
| Folks came knocking on the doors here at CHARE. | ||
| came knocking on the doors of a place called Weinberg up in northeastern Pennsylvania where I was just yesterday. | ||
| And I even saw it on Election Day here in Philly when I was heading down Broad Street going over to visit some folks at a poll. | ||
| And I saw on Broad Street a line that was three blocks long. | ||
| And when I got to the corner, I noticed that line that was three blocks long bent around the corner into the neighborhood as far as the eye could see. | ||
| I thought for a second, wait, are these folks waiting to vote? | ||
| No, they were there waiting at a pop-up food pantry. | ||
| When the federal government cut off SNAP, there was an immediate need that we saw in our communities. | ||
| Our neighbors who were hungry, one out of every eight of our neighbors relies on this funding and it was taken away. | ||
| And we went to work here in the Commonwealth to look out for our fellow neighbors. | ||
| The first thing we did was we sued the Trump administration to get those SNAP benefits flowing again. | ||
| The second thing I did, utilizing my authority as governor, was to sign an emergency declaration here in the Commonwealth, which I announced with Laurie at Phil Abundance the other day. | ||
| That allowed us to be able to free up an initial $5 million to be able to send to places like SHARE because we knew that more people were going to come banging on their doors seeking help. | ||
| As a result of that emergency declaration, SHARE alone received about $740,000 in additional funding that allowed them to purchase more food already and get that food out to the people who are in need in our communities. | ||
| In addition to that, I appealed to the better angels here in Pennsylvania and appealed to the goodness of our fellow Pennsylvanians and asked people to step up and make contributions to the Pennsylvania Emergency SNAP Fund. | ||
| And I have to just take a moment and thank so many generous Pennsylvanians who have already donated more than $2 million. | ||
| And every single cent of that $2 million has made its way to Feeding Pennsylvania. | ||
| And Feeding Pennsylvania has sent those dollars directly to places like CHERE and Phil Abundance and Weinberg and all of the other food pantries across Pennsylvania. | ||
| So we are doing what we can, but we know that we can't possibly make up for all of the money the federal government has stopped. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because SNAP each and every month totals $366 million. | ||
| It's $366 million. | ||
| It ends up on people's SNAP cards that they can use when they go to the grocery store or what have you. | ||
| So while we're so grateful to CHARE for stepping up and trying to fill that gap, we know that the only answer here is for the federal government to do the right thing and simply fund SNAP. | ||
| That's why I sued them. | ||
| And after I sued them, we won. | ||
| And just yesterday, a court ruled that the federal government was required to pay out the full amount of benefits to SNAP. | ||
| This happened yesterday afternoon. | ||
| Now, the Trump administration, after getting that ruling, couldn't get their act together quick enough. | ||
| But you know who did get their act together real quick? | ||
| Secretary Arkush and the team of the Department of Human Services. | ||
| What did they do? | ||
| They immediately processed the batches of Pennsylvanians who were owed money on SNAP through our vendor that sends those federal dollars out and started to get that money flowing again. | ||
| And so I wanted to come here today to tell you that as a result of the great work that our Department of Human Services has done, as a result of our winning lawsuit against the Trump administration, the dollars are beginning to flow again to SNAP recipients who haven't received their benefits over the first six days of this month. | ||
| So if you're a SNAP recipient and you were supposed to get your benefits on the 1st of November, DHS has sent through the processing for you to get it and the vendors are literally right now sending those dollars out onto people's snap cards. | ||
| So if you're one of those people that had a zero on your snap card because you were supposed to get your benefits on the first of the month, go check it out. | ||
| Those dollars are flowing. | ||
| We are hoping that by this evening, by midnight or so, that all of those individuals who were owed money over the first week or so of this month, who hadn't gotten it from the federal administration, are going to get their money thanks to the incredible work that DHS has done and the incredible work that our legal team, led by Mike Fisher and Jacob Boyer, have done. | ||
| Listen, this is the Pennsylvania way, looking out for our neighbors. | ||
| Unfortunately, though, we've got an administration in Washington who has proven time and time and time again they don't give a damn about their neighbors in need. | ||
| And so we have learned that the Trump administration has actually gone back to court to try and get them to stop those benefits from flowing again. | ||
| Now I want you to know my legal team, along with others from around the country, were in court right now filing the necessary briefs in order to push back on what Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the rest of the crew are doing to try and stop these benefits from flowing again. | ||
| These benefits are a lifeline for people. | ||
| Think about this. | ||
| One in eight of our neighbors are going hungry because the federal government stopped funding SNAP. | ||
| The first time SNAP has ever not been funded since it started in the 1960s. | ||
| This is a compact that the federal government had made with people who were hungry in this country. | ||
| And they broke that compact. | ||
| And it's shameful. | ||
| But you know what? | ||
| Here in Pennsylvania, we did something about it. | ||
| We sued. | ||
| We won. | ||
| We put more dollars in places like Cher and Phil Abundance so when people are in need came in here, they could have what they need. | ||
| And we stood together as Pennsylvanians, donating money, donating time, donating canned goods to be able to be in a position to love thy neighbor, as is commanded in our Bibles. | ||
| So for me, I want to just say thank you. | ||
| Thank you to Cher for stepping up. | ||
| Thank you to Phil Abundance and all the organizations that have done such a great job. | ||
| Thank you to Secretary Arkush and the team at DHS who moved quickly to get these dollars flowing again. | ||
| And my appeal to the Trump administration is just do the right thing. | ||
| Give up. | ||
| You're going to lose again in court. | ||
| And the only thing you're fighting for, think about this, the only thing you're fighting for is to make Americans hungry. | ||
| I don't know why you'd want to do that, but this is where we are in America today. | ||
| So it's our job to stand up, and that's exactly what we did here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. | ||
| With that, I'd be happy to take some questions. | ||
|
unidentified
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Could you go over the logistics of the release of the money? | |
| I know initially, Dr. Arkush, in your letter to the USDA, you had expressed concern about the partial payout formula and how it could add like 20 days. | ||
| How is it that we are distributing the money so quickly to people's cards? | ||
| The initial ruling from the judge said that there would be a partial payment. | ||
| The Trump administration then set up all these roadblocks so that a partial payment would have taken more than a month to drive out. | ||
| Secretary Arkush came up with a plan on the partial payment to be able to get those dollars out much more quickly. | ||
| But our lawyers kept fighting and kept going to court and ultimately yesterday secured a victory not for partial payment, but for full payment. | ||
| And then once we got that order, Secretary Arkush submitted all the names of the people who hadn't gotten their benefits that were owed to them at the beginning of this month and said to our vendor, you need to fund that. | ||
| And the vendor is funding that literally as we speak. | ||
|
unidentified
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Follow-up question. | |
| I just spoke to a woman who said that she has only gotten a fraction of the full amount she typically gets. | ||
| Is that going to change in the evening? | ||
| Or we hope, look. | ||
| If you were owed benefits, I'm going to make the example very simple because people get their benefits on different days of the month. | ||
| If you were owed benefits on the 1st of November, and let's just say for argument's sake, your card was at zero, you should be receiving from the vendor today as a result of the work that the Department of Human Services has done 100% of what was owed to you on the first of the month. | ||
| If you were supposed to get your benefits on, say, the 15th of the month, well, you aren't owed those yet. | ||
| And so that money isn't coming in just yet. | ||
| And so it's hard to react to this specific individual, but that's how the process works. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
|
unidentified
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Quick follow-up on that. | |
| So did the state have sort of a bucket of money for that first week of recipients already within the state's grasp and it was only able to distribute them now that the court order had said? | ||
| No. | ||
| Pardon me, finish your question. | ||
| I apologize. | ||
| No, none of this money is state funding. | ||
| SNAP is 100% paid by the federal government. | ||
| In fact, we received notice from the federal government that said if we use state money, they will not reimburse us. | ||
| The money that we have submitted for it, that is making their way on people's cards now, is all federal dollars that comes down from the U.S. Treasury. | ||
|
unidentified
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I guess my question was, when did that federal, when did the federal money, when did the state have the federal money in its own? | |
| Within the last few hours, and that's why the dollars are flowing right now, and I'm here updating you in real time. | ||
|
unidentified
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So was the release of the federal funds a mistake? | |
| Like just yesterday, Vice President JD Vance said, you know, he called the court order absurd. | ||
| Yeah, do we think that the release of the funds was a mistake or is it a direct result of you guys going to court? | ||
| Well, let me answer both the JD Vance piece and the other piece. | ||
| This is as a result of us continuing to push legally with the judge and the judge ruling that no longer would there be a partial payment, but the full payment. | ||
| And the moment we got that ruling, Secretary Arkush went into action, pushed that button, and got the dollars flowing again, the federal dollars. | ||
| And look, as for JD Vance, I got to say, look, I think America, America has a president, a vice president that don't give a damn about all Americans. | ||
| They have made that crystal clear. | ||
| And I mean, at least with Donald Trump, he's transparent about that. | ||
| JD Vance is a total phony. | ||
| And let me explain why. | ||
| JD Vance rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia, where there's a whole lot of people who get snap. | ||
| He made millions of dollars on the backs of telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people who he likes to write about and claim is his own. | ||
| Here's another thing JD Vance claims. | ||
| He claims to be a person of faith. | ||
| I know my Bible. | ||
| And my Bible teaches us that we are to love thy neighbor. | ||
| And we are to feed the hungry. | ||
| Deuteronomy says, if you see a person who is in need, you don't give them a clenched fist, you open up your hand. | ||
| So for JD Vance now to turn around after claiming all these things his whole life and literally go to court to stop hungry people from eating, that is not only phony, it is shameful. | ||
| And this is who is leading America today. | ||
| And folks got to wake up and realize the people who are leading in America quite literally want to keep people hungry. | ||
| And you'll excuse me for getting emotional about it, but when I see hungry people in my state who are hungry because of JD Vance's bullshit politics, that makes me angry. | ||
| And that's why I went to court. | ||
| And that's why we're funding CHERE. | ||
| And that's why we're putting dollars back on people's snap cards because that's what the people of Pennsylvania deserve. | ||
| And America deserves better than JD Vance. | ||
|
unidentified
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Governor, while the money come to the families, I saw many orders people fighting to try to get food because the 3D food banks is not enough. | |
| The food that they are hearing. | ||
| Even they are receiving more people than normal. | ||
| So what is your message in this time, this moment? | ||
| Because could be as heavy if you're not. | ||
| I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last part of this. | ||
|
unidentified
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But your message to those people, because you are doing your part, the food bank is trying to fund all of them. | |
| But what is your message? | ||
| Not just for Pennsylvanians, but Americans in general. | ||
| My message is I'm sorry that the federal government has held you captive. | ||
| I'm sorry the federal government has quite literally taken food out of your children's mouths. | ||
| And we're going to do everything we can here in Pennsylvania to love thy neighbor. | ||
| We're going to do everything we can here in Pennsylvania. | ||
| Treat all people with respect. | ||
| Treating people with respect at a baseline is making sure they've got enough food. | ||
| You know, I'm privileged to serve as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. | ||
| We're here because of our incredible farmers. | ||
| We produce more than enough food for every Pennsylvanian to be able to eat and for our farmers to have markets overseas and in other parts of America. | ||
| And the only reason our farmers can't fulfill that righteous circle of feeding people who are hungry is because the federal government has stopped them. | ||
| People like JD Vance have stopped. | ||
| And that to me is something that we've got to make sure folks understand. | ||
| We're going to do everything we can to feed them. | ||
| Our farmers want to feed them. | ||
| People here at CHARE want to feed them. | ||
| Hopefully the federal government gets out of the way and doesn't break that bond between our farmers and folks who are hungry and lets people eat. | ||
| This is a basic human right. | ||
| And they're trying to stop that. | ||
| And I think it's shameful. | ||
|
unidentified
|
More questions. | |
| You mentioned that the money is flowing again. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Are you able to say how much the initial round of money is and how much more is left? | |
| The Department of Human Services can give a full accounting of all the dollars by tomorrow. | ||
| We're hoping that it's around a million dollars, but I want to caution you on that. | ||
| Pardon me, $100 million, but I want to caution you on that number. | ||
| Each month, it costs about $366 million. | ||
| But as I said in response to the gentle A's question a moment ago, not all of the SNAP recipients are due to get re-upped yet. | ||
| So we're really talking about sort of seven days worth of people that didn't get their benefits, and that's around $100 million, and those are the dollars that are flowing out right now. | ||
| The Department of Human Services can give you a full update on that after those processes are done. | ||
| Probably tomorrow, they can give you that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Not every state has announced the release of the funds. | |
| Is the only reason that Pennsylvania is among the few states that is pushing out these funds, is it because you acted quickly and went to court and sort of forced the administration's hands? | ||
| I can't speak for other states, nor do I want to suggest any other state is not doing something right. | ||
| I've got great respect for my governors, particularly neighboring governors who I know are working hard on this issue. | ||
| I think what you saw with us was swift action. | ||
| Get shit done action. | ||
| We immediately sued. | ||
| We declared an emergency. | ||
| We have a hell of a Department of Human Services secretary who acted immediately when the Trump administration didn't move quickly enough in court. | ||
| And so I think as a result of that, you're seeing some positive momentum here in Pennsylvania. | ||
| Look, we're not out of the woods. | ||
| The Trump administration can still go to court and stop this, and they are. | ||
| It's what JD Vance is bragging about, that they're going to stop this. | ||
| And so I hope they're not successful. | ||
| If they are, then you're going to have another group of Pennsylvanians who aren't going to get their benefits going forward. | ||
| We're hopeful that doesn't happen, and we're going to continue to stay on it and make sure anyone who's not gotten their benefits yet is in this batch of folks who are getting their funding either they have over the last couple hours or will over the next few hours. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| Thank you all very much. | ||
| Appreciate it. | ||
|
unidentified
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Today on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, at a moment of deep division in Washington, former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazil and former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel come together for a bipartisan dialogue on Tuesday's election results, potential impact on the 2026 midterms, and increasing partisanship. | |
| They join host, Dasha Burns. | ||
| Ceasefire, Bridging the Divide in American Politics. | ||
| Watch Ceasefire today at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on C-SPAN. | ||
| Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold new original series, this Sunday with our guest, The Chronicler of Adventures, award-winning best-selling author David Graham, whose books include The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Wager. | ||
| He joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein. | ||
| So what about this fact, about this occurrence, made you think this could be something worth your time? | ||
| And I started to realize that this odd little old manuscript contained, you know, the seeds of one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and mayhem I had ever come across. |