Trump admin must fully fund SNAP by Friday, judge rules
Last weekend, federal food assistance lapsed for the "first time in our nation's history," and it was preventable, the judge said.
The longest shutdown in history meets the first lapse in benefits to the hungry.
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Donald Trump’s government has one day to use the contingency fees at his disposal to fully fund the food assistance program to feed hungry people in the United States, a federal judge ruled.
“We’ve now gone six days without needed food to the 42 million [people], 16 million children,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell said in court on Thursday. “That’s what the court’s temporary restraining order attempted to resolve.”
The judge ordered the Trump administration must fully fund the states using congressionally appropriated money designed for this purpose through November by “tomorrow, Fri., Nov. 7.”
“Last weekend, SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in our nation’s history,” McConnell noted. “This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided.”
The judge pointed out that Trump openly threatened on social media to suspend all food aid in defiance of his temporary restraining order explicitly demanding its full funding. Trump wrote on his social media platform that funding “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.”
Representing a coalition of cities and nonprofit groups, attorneys from the advocacy group Democracy Forward quickly alerted the judge that Trump was holding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) “hostage.”
“In addition to threatening defiance of the Court’s order, the post makes plain what plaintiffs explained in their motion to enforce: Defendants are withholding SNAP benefits from individuals and families who need vital food assistance for partisan political gain,” Democracy Forward’s attorneys wrote in a notice. “That much was already clear from USDA’s banner on its website, which blames ‘Senate Democrats’ for the suspension of SNAP benefits. The President’s post confirms that Defendants are holding full SNAP benefits hostage for political leverage during the shutdown. Defendants are doing so, as plaintiffs have explained, despite this Court’s order and despite the enormous harms that SNAP beneficiaries, as well as nonprofits, cities, and grocers, will suffer based on the decision to withhold full benefits.”
The Justice Department’s attorney Tyler Becker insisted: “Your honor, the government complied with the court’s order.”
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official laid out a plan to partially fund the SNAP program, potentially delayed by weeks or months.
Judge McConnell found that wasn’t good enough.
“USDA arbitrarily and capriciously created this problem by ignoring the congressional mandate for contingency funds,” he said.
McConnell promised to issue a written decision memorializing his decision, and he declined to pause his ruling pending appeal.
This is a developing story.
Very helpful to learn what’s happening as soon as possible. Thank you!
I've been waiting to see a judge get to contempt of court, after Boasberg got rather derailed in that score. I like this judge. I hope he knows what he wants to do if they don't comply. I wonder if there will be a midnight stay from SCOTUS? 🤔