The Trump administration asked a federal appeals court Nov. 7 to halt a judge’s order requiring full food stamp payments this month, as the government shutdown continues to strain the program.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell, an Obama appointee, ruled Nov. 6 that the government must fully fund November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The Hill reported. He said in his order that payment delays had likely left some of the program’s recipients hungry.
In its emergency filing to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department called McConnell’s order “unprecedented,” saying it makes “a mockery of the separation of powers.”
“This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” the department wrote.
The filing asked the court to let the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proceed with partial payments and “not compel the agency to transfer billions of dollars from another safety net program with no certainty of their replenishment.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said fully funding SNAP in November would cost about $9.2 billion. According to Reuters, the program covers Americans earning less than 130% of the federal poverty line — about $1,632 a month for a single-person household or $2,215 for a two-person household in most areas.
Earlier this week, the administration said it would draw more than $4 billion in SNAP contingency funds to provide roughly half of each household’s usual benefit, CatholicVote reported. The USDA later released a chart showing the reduced allotments. McConnell suggested tapping other federal accounts — including one funded by tariff revenue and reserved for child nutrition programs — but the administration declined, saying those funds require congressional authorization and are needed to sustain programs for children.
Reiterating the administration’s position, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Nov. 4 press conference that the “best way to get the full amount of SNAP benefits to those beneficiaries is for Democrats to reopen the government.”
>> Hartford archdiocese steps in with $500K emergency aid for SNAP recipients <<
The post Trump admin seeks emergency pause on judge’s order to fully fund SNAP benefits appeared first on CatholicVote org.