Judges could rule on the fate of SNAP food aid as deadline nears for shutdown to end payments
Global News
BOSTON (AP) — Two judges could rule as soon as Friday on whether President Donald Trump's administration must replenish SNAP food aid benefits for November despite the government shutdown.
BOSTON (AP) — Two judges could rule as soon as Friday on whether President Donald Trump’s administration must replenish SNAP food aid benefits for November despite the government shutdown.
The grocery-buying ability for about 1 in 8 Americans could hinge on the outcomes.
Even if a judge rules the benefits cannot be suspended for the first time in SNAP’s 61-year history, many beneficiaries are likely to face delays in getting the debit cards they use to buy groceries reloaded. That process can take one to two weeks, so it’s likely too late to get funds on cards in the first days of November.
In a hearing in Boston Thursday on a legal challenge filed by Democratic officials from 25 states, one federal judge seemed skeptical of the administration’s argument that SNAP benefits could be halted.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani told lawyers that if the government can’t afford to cover the cost, there’s a process to follow rather than simply suspending all benefits. “The steps involve finding an equitable way of reducing benefits,” said Talwani, who was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama.
Talwani seemed to be leaning toward requiring the government to put billions of dollars in emergency funds toward SNAP. That, she said, is her interpretation of what Congress intended when an agency’s funding runs out.
“If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.”
Government lawyers say a contingency fund containing some $5 billion cannot legally be used to maintain SNAP, a program that costs about $8 billion a month. The states say it must be used for that purpose and point to more money available in a second federal account.
