SNAP benefits must be fully paid, judge orders Trump admin

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to pay full SNAP benefits for November by Friday, rejecting the administration’s plan to partially fund that food stamp program for 42 million Americans during the U.S. government shutdown.

“People have gone without for too long,” Judge Jack McConnell said during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island as he issued the order requiring the administration to tap funding sources it ruled as being out of bounds earlier this week.

“The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened, and needless suffering will occur” if SNAP is not fully funded, McConnell said.

“That’s what irreparable harm here means. Last weekend, SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in our nation’s history,” the judge said. “This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided.”

The order came after plaintiffs in the case urged him to reject the administration’s proposed plan for partial benefits.

The Trump administration last week had said it would not use a congressionally authorized contingency fund containing $4.65 billion to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November. The total cost of full SNAP benefits for the month is around $8 billion.

The program, like other federal programs, had no current appropriation because Congress has not approved a stopgap funding bill that would reopen the U.S. government. Past presidential administrations have continued paying SNAP benefits during prior shutdowns.

A group of cities, charitable and faith-based non-profit groups, unions and business organizations sued the Trump administration, seeking to force it to use the contingency funds and potentially other money to fund SNAP.

McConnell, during a court hearing last Friday, blocked the administration from halting SNAP benefits. He told the administration to pay the benefits from the contingency fund “as soon as possible,” and to investigate whether other funds could be tapped to fully fund the program for the month.

On Monday, the administration told McConnell it would pay 50% of the benefits by using the contingency fund, but ruled out using at least $4 billion from the Child Nutrition Program, as well as other sources.

On Wednesday night, the administration updated its plan, saying that 65% of of the benefits would be paid.

McConnell during Thursday’s hearing blasted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision not to use so-called Section 32 funds to fully fund November SNAP payments, calling the decision “arbitrary and capricious.”

“USDA had an obligation, beginning … Oct. 1, when the shutdown began, to prepare to use the contingency funds so that the recipients would get their benefits as expected on Nov. 1,” McConnell said.

“USDA did not do so. Even when Nov. 1 came, USDA refused to use the congressionally mandated contingency funds, USDA cannot now cry that it cannot get timely payments to beneficiary for weeks or months because states are not prepared to make partial payments.”

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