The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds.
Archiv: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) / state-funded anti-hunger measure USA
SNAP update: Trump admin will pay 50% of food stamp benefits in November amid shutdown
McConnell, in a written order on Sunday, gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture two options.
One option was to make the full payment of SNAP benefits for November by the end of the day Monday by using Section 32 Child Nutrition Program fundings and other unspecified funds.
The other option was to “make a partial payment of the total amount of the contingency fund and … expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers, but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday.”
Food stamp benefits for 42 million Americans in jeopardy today amid shutdown
Democrats are suing the Trump administration in part over its refusal to use the SNAP emergency fund, which they contend has about $5 billion, to fund the program. But a recent memo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) argued there was no legal standing to use the fund and that federal SNAP funds would run dry by Nov. 1 if Democrats did not vote to end the shutdown.
A pair of federal judges ruled on Friday that the administration would have to pay out the food stamp benefits for November, either in full or partially.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins affirmed the memo during a Friday press conference,
Judge orders Trump administration to fund food aid for millions of Americans
U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.’s oral order Friday came just before the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, is set to run out of money this weekend. Trump administration officials have not yet indicated whether they will appeal the ruling.
Tax Cuts for the Top 1 Percent Cost More Than SNAP
(1.5.2018) According to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the richest 1 percent of households, those with incomes higher than $607,090, stand to receive a total tax cut of more than $84 billion in 2019 alone. To put this number in perspective, in 2019, the total cost of nutrition assistance benefits paid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—which will support 39 million individuals—is expected to be only $58 billion.