In a last-minute move, the Trump administration approached the Supreme Court in an attempt to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments. This request came after an appeals court upheld a ruling that mandated the administration to continue funding these benefits despite the ongoing government shutdown.
A federal judge had set a deadline for the administration, insisting that payments through SNAP be processed by Friday. However, the administration sought permission from the appeals court to delay full compliance, suggesting that payments should be limited to what could be covered by existing contingency funds instead of the full amounts ordered.
When the appeals court refused to grant this request, the administration swiftly turned to the US Supreme Court, seeking intervention to prevent any court orders from obligating them to exceed available funds.
The SNAP program is critical, providing food assistance to approximately one in eight Americans, predominantly benefiting individuals and families with low incomes.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for an official statement on the matter, but as of now, no response has been received.
The food program serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.
Officials in more than a half-dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday.
In Wisconsin, more than $104 million of monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic cards for about 337,000 households, a spokesperson for Democratic Governor Tony Evers said.
The Trump administration made a last-minute bid to the Supreme Court to halt SNAP payments after an appeals court affirmed an order requiring the White House to fund the benefits amid the government shutdown
A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
The state was able to access the federal money so quickly by submitting a request to its electronic benefit card vendor to process the SNAP payments within hours of a Thursday court order to provide full benefits.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees ‘worked through the night’ to issue full November benefits ‘to make sure every Oregon family relying on SNAP could buy groceries’ by Friday.
Hawaii had the information for November’s monthly payments ready to go, so it could submit it quickly for processing after Thursday’s court order – and before a higher court could potentially pause it, Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii´s Department of Human Services, told The Associated Press.
‘We moved with haste once we verified everything,’ Campos said.
Trump’s administration told the Supreme Court that the fast-acting states were ‘trying to seize what they could of the agency´s finite set of remaining funds, before any appeal could even be filed, and to the detriment of other States´ allotments.’
‘Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds,’ Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the court filing.
Officials in California, Washington state, Kansas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania also said they moved quickly to issue full SNAP benefits Friday, while other states said they expected full benefits to arrive over the weekend or early next week.
Still others said they were waiting for further federal guidance.
People wait in line durning an emergency food distribution at The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Mitzvah Food Program in Philadelphia
People pick up food at a pop-up food distribution organized by the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland
The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes.
An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.
For some SNAP participants, it remained unclear when they would receive their benefits.
Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November.
However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the shutdown.
One of those judges was US District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who ordered the full payments Thursday.
In both cases, the judges ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5billion and $9billion each month.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.
SNAP recipient Denise Malcom shops at Goodr Community Market in Atlanta
People pick up groceries at the nonprofit Deo Gratias Food Pantry in Detroit
Thursday´s federal court order rejected the Trump administration´s decision to cover only 65 percent of the maximum monthly benefit, a decision that could have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.
In its court filings Friday, Trump´s administration contended that the judge usurped both legislative and executive authority in ordering SNAP benefits to be fully funded.
‘This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,’ Sauer told the Supreme Court.
Some states said they stood ready to distribute SNAP money as quickly as possible.
Colorado and Massachusetts said SNAP participants could receive their full November payments as soon as Saturday.
New York said access to full SNAP benefits should begin by Sunday. New Hampshire said full benefits should be available by this weekend.
Arizona and Connecticut said full benefits should be accessible in the coming days.
Officials in North Carolina said they distributed partial SNAP payments Friday and full benefits could be available by this weekend. Officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Dakota also said they distributed partial November payments.
Amid the federal uncertainty, Delaware’s Democratic Governor Matt Meyer said the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of what could be a weekly relief payment to SNAP recipients.
