Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are in the process of being sent to recipients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to the states’ governors. It comes one day after a judge ordered the Trump administration to provide full federal food benefits,
An emotional Gov. Josh Shapiro said Friday that relief is on the way for the more than two million Pennsylvanians who rely on SNAP, including 472,000 people in Philadelphia.
SNAP recipients who were supposed to get their benefits within the first six days of November in Pennsylvania have either already been paid or will be paid in full by midnight, Shapiro said Friday at Share, a food bank in Philadelphia.
Shortly after Shapiro concluded his press conference, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said his state’s Department of Human Services “acted immediately” to process full SNAP benefits for people who have been waiting for them. More than 800,000 New Jersey residents rely on SNAP, Murphy said. CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to Delaware and is awaiting a response.
When SNAP benefits were cut off due to the federal government shutdown, Shapiro sued the Trump administration and issued a disaster declaration last week, releasing $5 million in funding to help food banks in the state stay afloat.
Shapiro said the commonwealth, along with a group of other states, won a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration, and on Thursday a judge ordered the federal government to restore full SNAP funding. The governor’s announcement came as the U.S. Department of Agriculture told states Friday it’s working to comply with the federal judge’s order.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services has sent a list of recipients to its vendor to begin reloading EBT cards, Shapiro said.
“The dollars are beginning to flow again to SNAP recipients who haven’t received their benefits over the course of the first six days of this month,” Shapiro said. “If you’re one of those people who had a zero on your SNAP card because you were supposed to get your benefits on the first of the month, go check it out. Those dollars are flowing.”
The Trump administration appealed the court order, saying the judge’s order “makes a mockery of the separation of powers.”
“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” they wrote in their request for emergency relief.
Shapiro singled out Vice President JD Vance, who called the court’s ruling “absurd” on Thursday.
“After claiming all these things his whole life and literally go to court to stop hungry people from eating, that is not only phony, it is shameful,” Shapiro said. “You’ll excuse me for getting emotional about it, but when I see hungry people in my state who are hungry because of JD Vance’s [expletive] politics, that makes me angry. And that’s why I went to court.”
Shapiro said the commonwealth is ready to continue fighting in court, if necessary.
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