By Guy Page
Does Gov. Phil Scott trust the Trump administration?
The question was put to Vermont’s five-time elected governor publicly and directly by reporters for Vermont Public (formerly Vermont Public Radio) at his August 7 press conference in Montpelier. It started with inquiries about the governor sharing personal data of SNAP recipients with the federal government [“Scott defends SNAP data amid condemnation by Dem leaders”, August 7] and morphed into a general back-and-forth about whether Vermont can trust Washington D.C. in the Age of Trump.
Sitting across the table from VP Capital Bureau veterans Peter Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel, I watched the lengthy exchange between them and the governor. At one point Kinzel asked Scott of the Trump administration, “Do you trust them?”
See Scott’s answer(s) below. On YouTube, the convo between Vermont Public reporters Peter Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel and Scott begins at about the 33:50 mark. Ah’s and ums and other filler words are mostly edited out.
Vermont Public reporter Peter Hirschfeld:
I was talking with a SNAP recipient this morning who feels personally let down by the state’s decision to share her information with the federal government. Um, she’s worried about what they’re going to do with that information. I wonder if you have any concerns at all about what the Trump administration might do, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not 6 months from now, but might do one day with that sensitive personal information.
Governor:
I guess I’d ask, what personal information is she concerned with?
Hirschfeld:
Social security number, address.
Governor:
Last I knew, the federal government is the one that issues social security numbers. They have that information.
Hirschfeld:
They actually don’t. The USDA does not have that information. That’s what the Privacy Law Act is designed to do — to create very clear and well-defined statutory guard rails around which federal agencies have access to that sensitive personal information. And USDA does not have that information.
Governor:
I had understood that within the last 8 years there was a vote in Congress to allow for that sharing of information, but I can check with Jaye [Pershing Johnson, administration General Counsel] on that.
Hirschfeld:
What law were you referencing….?
Governor:
It was a vote by Congress that put guard rails and enhanced that information that the federal government was entitled to.
Hirschfeld:
So you don’t think that the federal government will — that this in any way increases access to information they didn’t already have?
Governor:
I don’t know what they will do with it. But I just know that they’re entitled to it, and I don’t know how we can resist when they have the information, they have the ability to get the information. I’m not sure what benefit it will have to not give them what they are entitled to.
Hirschfeld:
It’s an active legal question, right? You’ve got a smart legal team and they’ve come to one conclusion. There are a lot of other smart lawyers out there that are arguing to the contrary. Why not let that legal question become settled before you hand over the information?
Governor:
Well, I think there are a number of states who have moved forward — all blue states, I believe — with some sort of a lawsuit, and we’ll see how that plays out.
Hirschfeld:
But why wouldn’t you wait to see how that legal question, that active legal question, is settled?
Governor:
Again, I’m not going to sign on to every single piece of a lawsuit on everything that the Trump administration does. I just don’t think that helps the situation whatsoever. And again, I go back to: I believe they’re entitled to the information. That’s what our lawyers think. And I just don’t think it’s beneficial to resist every single thing that comes out. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long three and a half years.
Vermont Public reporter Bob Kinzel:
Well, Treasurer [Mike] Pieciak said Vermonters now will have to worry about persecution and surveillance from the Trump administration because they chose to trust state government to protect their data. Is he wrong?
Governor:
I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t give the federal government any information. We wouldn’t work with them on any issues if that were the case. If people don’t trust the federal government at all, then we’re in big trouble. And if they’re counting on the little state of Vermont to protect them from everything the federal government does, I just don’t believe they’re being realistic.
We have to trust our government. We have to trust the process. We have to trust Congress. We have to trust our elected representatives. And if we don’t, it’s an unraveling of our democracy.
Kinzel:
Given what you’ve seen the Trump administration do over the last six months with personal data, do you trust them?
Governor:
I think they have the information now. So I don’t know that it’s going to make any difference whether I trust them completely or not. They have the information.
Kinzel:
Yeah, but do you trust him? I mean, there’s a core issue here — whether or not you trust the federal government.
Governor:
I trust them in some ways. I don’t trust the actions of the president at times. I don’t believe that his tactics are fruitful, and I think that it does lead to mistrust, and I think that’s unfortunate. But I think there are a lot of good people in government, and I believe that we have to trust somebody.
So, as I said before, I’m going to call balls and strikes. We’re not going to oppose every single issue the federal government brings up, but we will take action and push back when necessary.
With the National Guard, for example — it just didn’t make sense to me to have 12 National Guard members pulled from their jobs and deployed for a year in St. Albans. That didn’t make any sense, so we pushed back there. There will be other areas where we’re going to push back, but again, it’s not going to be a knee-jerk reaction to every single issue.
News 5 reporter:
Governor, you don’t have any indication from the USDA or another federal agency as to how this data will be used, correct?
Governor:
I do not. I believe they’ll be cross-correlating and making sure that there’s no fraud involved and no duplications.
Gov. Scott also covered questions about nuclear power in Vermont, the out-of-state corrections contract, and more. See YouTube video and upcoming editions of VDC for more information
Cover photo stillshot from YouTube video: Gov. Phil Scott answers question by Vermont Public reporter as Housing Commissioner Alex Farrell looks on. Alden Bryan painting of Cambridge village in background.