President Donald Trump said Tuesday that federal food aid funding won’t be restored until Democrats agree to end the shutdown, contradicting his administration’s decision earlier this week to send out partial benefits.
“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The announcement appears to violate a federal court order that required Trump to pay for some of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative serving nearly 42 million people. And it comes just after USDA sent guidance to states instructing them to provide half of benefits in November.
Trump’s post has created widespread confusion as states, anti-hunger groups and lawmakers attempt to understand the federal government’s next steps. Even officials within the Trump administration aren’t clear on whether the post means USDA now won't abide by the court order and release money for SNAP, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter, who were granted anonymity to share private details.
The White House referred POLITICO to the Truth Social post when asked for more information. USDA did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump officials and state agencies have warned that the lack of clarity and the difficulty of administering partial benefits would result in weeks, if not months, of delays for families awaiting payments, leaving them scrambling just ahead of the holiday season.
Republicans have urged Democrats to sign onto the GOP’s stopgap funding bill to reopen the government and restore all benefits under SNAP. Democrats, however, are looking for new ways to force the Trump administration to pay up now.
Several cities and nonprofits that previously sued the administration over its refusal to use emergency funds for SNAP filed a new motion on Tuesday demanding that the court force USDA to send the full $8 billion needed for November benefits. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. scheduled a new hearing in the case for Thursday afternoon.
"[The Trump administration's] decision not to provide full SNAP benefits — even though they have funds available to do so and even though switching to partial payments at this late date will cause devastating delay — is arbitrary and capricious,” the plaintiffs argued in their latest filing, adding that families "will suffer immediate and irreparable harm."
The government shutdown is now in its sixth week and SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in history last weekend, revealing just how divided Washington has become on previously bipartisan topics like food aid and health care.
Trump’s latest Truth post surprised some Hill Republicans, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Speaker Mike Johnson specifically said Monday that "the president isn’t appealing the [court] decision."
Several Democrats, including some who were part of a private conversation Monday night about finding an offramp to the shutdown, said the announcement was complicating the dynamic of their negotiations.
“We're discussing all of the different parameters of a possible deal,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said in an interview. “It certainly makes it more complicated when the President basically ignores the law.”
Grace Yarrow, Meredith Lee Hill and Rachel Shin contributed to this report.
Comments
Post a Comment