A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration must continue to fund the food stamp program despite the ongoing government shutdown.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture had been set to halt funding starting Saturday for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which supports 42 million low-income participants.
In an oral ruling in a suit brought by several Rhode Island cities, U.S. District Judge Jack McConnell in Providence blocked the administration from stopping SNAP benefits and ordered it to use a multibillion-dollar contingency fund to maintain at least some of the benefits issued each month.
In a related case, another federal judge in Massachusetts gave the USDA until Monday to decide how it will distribute benefits, either reduced or in full. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said in her order that the dozens of states that sued over the funding cutoff “are likely to succeed on their claim that ... suspension of SNAP benefits is unlawful.”
The department can issue reduced benefits out of its contingency funds or find an additional funding source to provide full benefits for November, Talwani ruled.
The Trump administration had argued that the USDA cannot use its $6 billion contingency fund to pay for benefits during the shutdown because Congress did not approve the money, adding that even partial reimbursement would be “catastrophic.”
Talwani appeared skeptical of the federal government’s argument for why it couldn’t at least send reduced benefits, at times growing visibly frustrated and raising her voice.
Noting that Congress has set aside emergency money, Talwani said, “It’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when people are losing their benefits.”
During a 2018 shutdown in Trump’s first term, SNAP benefits continued to be funded. And the Trump administration recently maintained that contingency funds could be used to pay for SNAP benefits during a shutdown, before reversing course.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
