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Trump Hit With Back-to-Back Rulings Forcing Him to Release Emergency SNAP Funds
Federal judges delivered a double legal blow to President Trump Friday, forcing his administration to release emergency funds to prevent SNAP benefits from stopping during the government shutdown.
dailyboulder.com
Federal judges delivered a double legal blow to President Trump Friday, forcing his administration to release emergency funds to prevent SNAP benefits from stopping during the government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell blocked the administration from cutting off SNAP benefits beginning this weekend, mandating that officials spend an emergency fund before letting payments lapse. The roughly $5.25 billion fund is far short of the $9 billion needed to cover November benefits, but McConnell’s order prevents the complete shutdown of aid for more than 40 million Americans.
“SNAP benefits have never, until now, been terminated,” McConnell said at a hearing. “And the United States has in fact admitted that the contingency funds are appropriately used during a shutdown and that occurred in 2019.”
The judge instructed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to distribute the emergency funds “timely or as soon as possible” and provide an update to the court by Monday.
The looming SNAP lapse had become one of the most visible consequences of the government shutdown, which is now in its fifth week. While Republicans largely remained unified in their approach to the shutdown, cracks appeared in the Senate GOP over whether SNAP should be allowed to lapse—an eventuality that would hit millions in Republican-represented states.
The McConnell ruling, however, does not guarantee benefits once the emergency fund is depleted.
In a separate but near-simultaneous decision, a federal judge in Boston reinforced the order, telling the Trump administration that emergency funding must be used to at least partially cover November SNAP benefits despite pushback.
Minutes apart, the Rhode Island judge demanded that the administration and USDA release close to $6 billion during the shutdown. The judge stressed the urgency, saying the funds must be distributed “in a timely fashion,” and ordered the agency to provide an update by noon Monday.
Even with the court mandates, delays are expected as states and the USDA work to distribute the emergency funding. The judges also noted that additional funding would need to be identified to fully cover the program, which costs about $9 billion per month.