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The Trump administration said it will only distribute partial SNAP benefits this month amid the ongoing government shutdown, per The Hill.
In a court filing on Monday (November 3), White House officials told a federal judge that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would not use other funding sources to cover the full $9 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits due in November. Officials said it will rely on a $5.25 billion emergency fund after two federal judges ordered the administration to present a plan by Monday for how it will distribute SNAP.
The Trump administration claimed it was an "unacceptable risk" to tap into Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds, which would help fulfill the full cost of the program.
“Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds are not a contingency fund for SNAP,” Patrick Penn, who oversees the program at USDA, wrote in a sworn declaration. “Using billions of dollars from Child Nutrition for SNAP would leave an unprecedented gap in Child Nutrition funding that Congress has never had to fill.”
The partial funding comes after several Democratic-led states, cities, and advocacy groups sued the administration last week to prevent a total suspension of SNAP benefits. The Trump administration argued that SNAP’s emergency fund is reserved for natural disasters like hurricanes and cannot be used to offset shutdown-related funding gaps.
On Friday (October 31), U.S. District Judges John McConnell and Indira Talwani rejected the administration's argument in separate rulings, ordering the government to maintain benefits to the fullest extent possible. Still, the administration declined to seek alternative funds to help nearly 42 million Americans continue to pay for their groceries.
Penn warned Monday that states would need time to adjust their systems to issue recalculated benefits, potentially causing weeks or even months of delays to SNAP benefits.
“For at least some states, the system changes … will take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months,” he said.
The lapse in SNAP funding has become one of the most visible consequences of the shutdown, which is now in its sixth week.
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