Trump Invokes Bible on Caring for Children — Critics Point to Effort to Halt SNAP Payments

Trump Quotes Scripture on Children as Critics Recall SNAP Fight

At a White House event on Thursday, President Donald Trump invoked scripture to argue that a society is judged by how it cares for its children.

“The Bible tells us that one of the measures of any society is how it cares for vulnerable children and orphans. So important and it is so big in the Bible,” Trump said.

His remarks were met with swift criticism on social media and from Democratic officials, who pointed out that the administration had recently sought to halt payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — a move that threatened food assistance for millions of Americans, including more than 16 million children.

Lawmakers and advocates respond

California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote: “You literally fought in court to strip families of food assistance.” House Democrats also criticized the administration, with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark saying, “He literally just defunded food for children this week.”

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee raised separate complaints about federal tactics during immigration enforcement, citing reports that a 1-year-old girl was hospitalized after agents used pepper spray during a recent raid near Chicago.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon noted the scale of the program, adding: “He tried to withhold funding for SNAP benefits. 16 million American children rely on SNAP for food.”

Legal battle and funding developments

Earlier Thursday, the administration dropped a Supreme Court challenge after two federal lawsuits pushed the government to restart SNAP payments. The program provides food assistance to nearly 42 million people nationwide, including roughly one-quarter of U.S. children.

During the government shutdown, the administration had signaled it would freeze SNAP funding, saying the federal “well has run dry” and warning that benefits scheduled for November 1 might not be delivered. Federal courts ordered the government to resume payments; under those orders the administration agreed to draw on $4.65 billion in contingency funds to cover about 65 percent of benefits.

The USDA warned that partial payments could take “anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months” for all recipients to see funds, and at one point instructed states to "undo" steps taken to accelerate distribution. That back-and-forth created confusion for millions of low-income families as the situation unfolded.

The administration had appealed a federal judge’s order to fully fund the program to the Supreme Court and briefly obtained a freeze of the lower-court order. The freeze was scheduled to end at midnight Thursday, but the administration withdrew its challenge after Congress passed a temporary funding bill that ended the shutdown and funded SNAP through the end of the fiscal year, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the justices.

What happens next

After the president signed the temporary funding bill, the USDA directed states to take “immediate steps to ensure households receive their full November allotments promptly.” USDA official Brooke Rollins told CNN most beneficiaries should see assistance by Monday, noting that distribution depends on each state’s systems: “The SNAP program is funded by the federal government, but it is the 50 states and 50 different infrastructures that move that money out, which is what made it so complicated, the patchwork. But it’s moving. It’s coming.”

Key figures: more than 16 million children rely on SNAP; nearly 42 million people receive SNAP benefits; $4.65 billion in contingency funds covered roughly 65% of benefits during the dispute.