The Trump administration on Friday asked a federal appeals court for an emergency pause on a federal judge’s order to fully fund SNAP benefits this month.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordered the administration on Thursday afternoon to deliver payments in full to states by Friday, chastising it for delays that he said have likely caused SNAP recipients to go hungry.
The administration agreed earlier this week to use $4.65 billion in contingency funds to cover about 65% of the benefits that eligible households would ordinarily receive. But it has argued that it cannot draw from additional funds set aside for child nutrition programs, known as Section 32 funding, to fully fund SNAP.
In a court filing on Friday morning, the Trump administration said that because of the government shutdown, there is only enough money to pay partial benefits in November.
“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 administration wrote in the filing.
“This Court should allow USDA to continue with the partial payment and not compel the agency to transfer billions of dollars from another safety net program with no certainty of their replenishment,” it added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
