Trump admin official: 'Your government is failing you'

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks with reporters on the West Wing driveway at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 16, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, appearing to depart from official administration messaging, told Americans affected by the federal government shutdown and the loss of essential food assistance programs such as SNAP that their government is “failing” them.

“My message to America is, first, the fact that your government is failing you right now,” Secretary Rollins told reporters on Friday at a press conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

“That poverty is not red or blue. It is not a Republican or Democrat issue,” she continued.

“It doesn’t matter who you voted for, or even if you voted, that if you are in a position where you can’t feed your family, and you’re relying on that $187 a month for an average family in the SNAP program, that we have failed you,” she admitted.

Speaker Johnson, who opposes any measures to fund food stamps or other safety-net programs without reopening the government, quickly stepped in.

“And it’s — clarifying,” Johnson said. “When she says, ‘we have failed you,’ she means ‘we, the Democrats,’ okay?”

“Because, as we’ve just explained, Republicans have voted 14 times to get this done,” he said of Senate votes to pass the House’s clean continuing resolution.

Democrats have refused to vote to reopen the government without legislation that would restore the Obamacare premium subsidies. Without those funds, some Americans are already seeing premiums for next year skyrocket.

Rollins was not the only Republican on Friday who appeared to veer from the GOP’s standard message.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke told Fox Business that inflation and food prices are high — contrary to remarks President Donald Trump has repeatedly made.

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