WASHINGTON ― The Donald Trump administration on Friday instructed states to pay full meals advantages for November even because it fought in court docket to withhold the help.
In a memo to states, the U.S. Division of Agriculture, which administers the Supplemental Vitamin Help Program, stated it’s “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances” in response to a court docket order.
Hours after the memo was despatched, the Justice Division requested the Supreme Courtroom to dam the decrease court docket’s order for advantages to be distributed ― even after a number of states had already despatched out the funds. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a keep pending a decision of the administration’s enchantment to a decrease court docket.
The Supreme Courtroom’s involvement is the most recent twist in a loopy back-and-forth over meals advantages for greater than 22 million American households, containing greater than 42 million individuals, through the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. historical past.
At first, the Trump administration stated it couldn’t pay November’s advantages as a result of Congress had not appropriated funds for operations on the USDA and different federal companies. Democrats and nonprofit organizations sued, and a court docket ordered the administration to faucet a contingency fund and not less than pay partial advantages.
Then President Donald Trump himself stated there can be no SNAP advantages till Democrats conform to reopen the federal government, just for White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt to say he didn’t imply it. On Thursday, the court docket ordered the USDA to pay full advantages, relatively than partial, by tapping different out there funds. The administration instantly appealed the order, however stated Friday, within the USDA memo, that it will put together for November’s advantages to be despatched in full.
Requested concerning the ongoing litigation, the USDA referred HuffPost to Friday’s memo to states.
“Later today, FNS will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmittal of full issuance files to your EBT processor,” the memo stated, referring to digital profit switch playing cards which might be used to distribute SNAP advantages.
Meals help allotments begin going out on the primary of the month, and since profit issuance is staggered all through the month in most states, extra households have missed SNAP advantages every day.
Deb Phillips, 66, lives along with her daughter and granddaughters in Peoria, Arizona. She stated she will get by with Social Safety advantages and a pension from her time within the Air Power. She stated she missed the $423 in SNAP advantages she usually receives on the 4th of every month. She stated she knew she would miss the deposit as a result of she’d been following information concerning the shutdown.
“If it hadn’t been that I have held some money in reserve, knowing that this was coming up, I would not have food in the house right now,” Phillips instructed HuffPost.
Phillips stated she will stretch her meals finances partly by making extra mac and cheese than typical, however she worries her granddaughters will get sick of it. She’s livid with the federal government.
“I’m very dismayed that the leaders of our country have let this go,” she stated.
