PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to find the money to fully fund November food stamp benefits for 42 million Americans, rejecting the government's plan to pay only part of the benefit during the federal government shutdown and giving it until Friday to make the full payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.
Source: Associated Press (via Riverside Press-Enterprise)
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., ruling from the bench after a brief hearing in Rhode Island, said the administration had failed to weigh what its partial-payment decision would do to the people who depend on the program. "The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP," McConnell said. "They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer." A summary of the ruling described the partial-funding decision as "arbitrary and capricious."
"16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry"
"Without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry," the judge said. "This should never happen in America. In fact, it's likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here." The order came in a case brought by a coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations, which had complained that the administration's offer to cover 65% of the maximum benefit would have left some recipients getting nothing at all for November.
McConnell also answered the government's money argument directly. He ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture must use Section 32 nutrition funds to supplement SNAP's contingency account to cover the full amount needed this month, rejecting the claim that doing so would endanger school meals — an argument he called "incredible" and "contrary to the evidence." Section 32 is not limited to child nutrition programs, he said, and about $19 billion would remain after transferring roughly $4 billion to SNAP — enough to fund school meals through the spring. The Agriculture Department filed an appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shortly after the ruling.
Source: NAFB News Service (via St. Joseph Post)
How the fight reached this point
BACKGROUND: This is the second courtroom defeat for the administration in the same fight — and it follows the earlier ruling Awaaz Punjab reported on October 31, when McConnell and U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston both held that the administration could not skip November's benefits entirely because of the shutdown. The two judges ordered the government to use the emergency reserve fund of more than $4.6 billion and gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments.
Instead, the administration chose partial payments, and the percentages kept moving. In a court filing on Monday it said it would fund 50% of the maximum benefits and warned it could take weeks or even months for some states to make the calculations and system changes needed to load the debit cards used in the SNAP program. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefits at all unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government; his press secretary later said the partial benefits were being paid. On Wednesday night, the administration recalculated and told states there was enough money to pay 65% of the maximum benefit.
Tyler Becker, the attorney for the government, argued unsuccessfully that the administration had followed the court's order: "This all comes down to Congress not having appropriated funds because of the government shutdown." Kristin Bateman, a lawyer for the coalition of cities and nonprofits, told the judge the administration had other reasons for not fully funding the benefits: "What defendants are really trying to do is to leverage people's hunger to gain partisan political advantage in the shutdown fight." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
McConnell said last week's order required the payments to be made "expeditiously" and "efficiently" — and by Wednesday — or a full payment would be required. "Nothing was done consistent with the court's order to clear the way to expeditiously resolve it," he said.
What it means for families — and what happens next
SNAP is the country's largest anti-hunger program, and November is the first month in its history in which benefits were put at risk by a funding lapse. Recipients use electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to buy groceries, and states load the cards on a rolling schedule through the month — which is why, even with Friday's deadline, it is unlikely the 42 million recipients will see the money on their cards nearly that quickly. Food banks have been filling the gap: the Associated Press photographed volunteers loading vehicles at a food distribution at the San Antonio Food Bank in Texas on Thursday for SNAP recipients and others affected by the shutdown. For the many Punjabi and South Asian families in the United States who run small grocery stores, drive trucks on irregular incomes, or support elderly parents on fixed budgets, the difference between 65% and a full benefit is the difference between a stocked kitchen and an empty one this month.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: The administration must make the full payments by Friday under the order, while its appeal to the 1st Circuit runs in parallel — an appeals ruling could pause or reshape the order. States, meanwhile, have to complete the recalculations the government warned could take weeks, so recipients should watch their state agency's EBT notices rather than the court calendar. The underlying shutdown fight in Congress, which caused the lapse, remains unresolved.