Some Americans began seeing this month’s food stamp benefits Friday, even as the Trump administration appealed a federal court ruling that required it to restart the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Shortly after a decision Thursday by U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee, ordering the government to restart the SNAP program by Friday, a number of states began announcing they would be issuing full SNAP benefits, NPR reported Friday.
The list included California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Some people woke up on Friday with the money already on the debit-like EBT cards they use to buy groceries.
The Trump administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in its bid to block the release of SNAP payments for the more than 42 million Americans who rely on them.
The move came after an appeals court earlier Friday rejected a request from the government to halt orders requiring them to issue SNAP payments.
SNAP funding ran out a week ago as the government shutdown entered its second month. Food banks have been ramping up donations to fill the gap.
In his order, McConnell admonished the government for deciding earlier in the week to make only partial SNAP payments.
He said officials failed to consider the “needless suffering” that would cause millions of people who rely on such aid. He also suggested they had delayed the partial payments for “political reasons.”
The administration said it did not have enough emergency funds to cover full payments because of the shutdown. In appealing the new order, officials argued that it’s up to Congress to provide more SNAP funding.
They said shifting money from elsewhere, as McConnell directed, would only harm other child nutrition programs.
“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” the government wrote in a court filing.
Also Friday, the Department of Agriculture reportedly stated that it would “complete the processes necessary” to make SNAP funds available later in the day.
Earlier this week, the USDA tapped about $4 billion in a contingency fund for SNAP, which only covers about half the program’s monthly budget, NPR reported.
It had directed states to recalculate partial payments, a complicated process some complained could take weeks.
The administration had asked the court to block full payments while its appeal played out. The appeals court denied that, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice has filed for an emergency stay with the Supreme Court.
But events seemed to overtake that move Friday, as more and more states told residents they would soon receive their full SNAP benefits.
One anti-hunger advocacy group welcomed the end of a “long, chaotic, and unnecessary delay” to this month’s benefits.
“The Trump administration all along had both the power and the authority to ensure that SNAP benefits continued uninterrupted but chose not to act until a court order forced it to do so,” Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, told NPR.
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