In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Senator Reverend Warnock called out the Trump Administration for using people as pawns following its choice to cut off food assistance amid the government shutdown despite having available resources

In a new oversight effort, Senator Warnock urged the USDA to release the billions of dollars at its disposal to ensure Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits continue in November

Senator Warnock on MSNBC: “This is a choice Trump’s USDA is making. There’s no reason why those benefits could not be available to folks come November. But we are in a moment where we have craven politicians who are literally using people as pawns”

Watch a clip of Senator Warnock on MSNBC HERE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is calling out the Trump Administration’s decision to use people as pawns amid the government shutdown by cutting off funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that support vulnerable Georgians despite the federal government having available resources to keep the benefits going into November. 

“Let us be clear: this is a choice Trump’s USDA is making. There’s no reason why those benefits could not be available to folks come November. But we are in a moment where we have craven politicians who are literally using people as pawns. I was a free lunch kid. That’s how I got through school. I know what it’s like to need those benefits,” said Senator Warnock. “But here’s the thing, the folks, particularly in rural Georgia and rural parts of our country who benefit from the SNAP benefits, whether we’re talking about the beneficiaries themselves or the ways in which that is connected to the economy, those are the same folks who are also being robbed of their health care as they see those premiums double, triple, quadruple. Those are often the same people.”

Senator Warnock concluded by urging Washington Republicans to stop playing games with people’s lives and instead focus on the work of reopening the government, funding health care, and serving the people.  

“Politicians need to stop playing games. Stop centering the politics and center the people. We can fund the government, and we can fund health care. If Trump were focused on that, rather than building his own ballroom and creating a kind of gaudy situation in the White House, if he focused on the people, we could get this done. He’s been busy doing that. They’re in charge of the White House, the House, and the Senate. We’re in a shutdown because Republicans are playing games,” Senator Warnock said.

The latest comments from Senator Warnock come as the Senator, along with Senator Ossoff, are signing onto a new oversight effort urging USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to release the billions of dollars at its disposal to ensure SNAP benefits continue in November. 

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