It\u2019s not clear how quickly SNAP benefits could reach recipients if the government reopens or the Supreme Court orders full payments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n \t\t An urgent need for beneficiaries<\/p>\n The cascading legal rulings \u2014 plus the varying responses of each state to the shutoff \u2014 means people who rely on SNAP are in vastly different situations. Some have all their benefits, some have none. In states including North Carolina and Texas, beneficiaries have received partial amounts.<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania, full November benefits went out to some people on Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received anything by Monday.<\/p>\n Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and has had several strokes this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.<\/p>\n That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 monthly SNAP payment he previously received for himself, his wife and daughter. He said he is down to $10 in his account and is relying on what\u2019s left in the pantry \u2014 mostly rice and ramen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything down to the penny to make sure I was right,\u201d Malliard said. \u201cTo say anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.\u201d<\/p>\n The political wrangling in Washington has shocked many Americans, and some have been moved to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI figure that I\u2019ve spent money on dumber stuff than trying to feed other people during a manufactured famine,\u201d said Ashley Oxenford, a teacher who set out a \u201clittle food pantry\u201d in her front yard this week for vulnerable neighbors in Carthage, New York.<\/p>\n SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court<\/p>\n The Trump administration chose to cut off SNAP funding after October due to the shutdown. That decision sparked lawsuits and a string of swift and contradictory judicial rulings that deal with government power \u2014 and impact food access for some 42 million Americans.<\/p>\n The administration went along with two rulings on Oct. 31 by judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding<\/a> for SNAP. It eventually said recipients would get up to 65% of their regular benefits. But it balked last week when one of the judges said it must fund the program fully<\/a> for November, even if that means digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case of emergencies elsewhere.<\/p>\n The U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> agreed to pause that order.<\/p>\n An appeals court said Monday that full funding should resume<\/a>, and that requirement is set to kick in Tuesday night unless the top court takes action again.<\/p>\n Congressional talks about reopening government<\/p>\n
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