“Morning Joe” chastised Republican leaders — particularly Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville — for their “ignorance” about those who use or need SNAP benefits, which are about to be affected by the ongoing government shutdown.
The conversation came about after the panel played a clip of a recent press interview with Tuberville, wherein the congressman discussed Alabama residents losing SNAP benefits as the government shutdown continues. On Monday, the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which manages SNAP benefits, announced that SNAP would be suspended starting Nov. 1. Approximately 750,000 Alabamians will be affected by the pause.
“It’s their constituents, a lot of them that, in some of these inner cities, they’re going to need SNAP to survive,” Tuberville said in the interview where he tried to blame left-wing politicians for the shutdown. “A lot of people need to go back to work. A lot of young men that are on SNAP that should be working.”
The “Morning Joe” panel first responded with sighs and apparent disgust before weighing on Tuberville’s “ignorance.”
“This is the ignorance of a lot these Republican leaders,” co-host Joe Scarborough said during the Wednesday segment, questioning if Tuberville thinks he’s getting at citizens in liberal areas like Brooklyn, N.Y.
“They think that they’re owning the libs,” Scarborough continued. “When in fact, it’s their constituents who disproportionately take from the government. It’s their constituents — as far as tax money goes — who disproportionately are impacted by Medicaid cuts. It’s his people that are going to be just completely hammered by [a loss of] SNAP benefits. I know Alabama, I love Alabama. You don’t have to drive too far out of Mountain Brook to understand there are a lot of good people in Alabama that need Medicaid, that need SNAP benefits, and a lot of them are people that voted for Donald Trump. That’s the ignorance of all of this.”
As of Wednesday, this is now the 29th day of the government shutdown after Congress and President Donald Trump couldn’t agree on a budget to fund government operations, and without it, the government can’t move forward with spending money legally.
Watch the full “Morning Joe” clip in the video above.
