White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett complained after U.S District Judge John McConnell ruled that the Trump administration could legally use a contingency fund to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits while the federal government was facing a shutdown.

In Friday's ruling, just one day before the food benefits were set to lapse, McConnell ordered the Department of Agriculture to distribute money owed to recipients "as soon as possible."

"We're about to use emergency funds from the Department of Agriculture because of a liberal judge ruling that we disagree in the law on," Hassett complained to Fox News after the ruling. "But then we don't have our emergency funds in case we have a hurricane or we have an emergency, a food emergency."

"And so we've got to get the government open. We've got to do it as soon as possible. And the Democrats really don't have a plan," he added. "We don't really understand what they're doing anymore."