Judge to decide whether SNAP benefits can be cut off : NPR

BOSTON – A federal court ruling could come as early as Thursday afternoon, avoiding a complete supply shutdown. federal food assistance for 42 million Americans, which is scheduled to begin Saturday.

The Trump administration said benefits from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps, could don't keep flowing because of federal government shutdown which started almost a month ago. “The well has dried up,” the USDA said on the USDA website. his website last week.

But Democratic governors and attorneys general in nearly two dozen states sued the federal government to keep the benefits going, arguing that SNAP is a right that cannot be cut off. In their opinion, this will cause irreparable damage to millions of Americans and states that will have to deal with the consequences.

After an hour of argument in Boston federal court, Judge Indiriya Talwani suggested she doesn't believe the Trump administration's argument that it is legally prohibited from using the USDA emergency fund to continue receiving SNAP benefits.

“Congress put money into the emergency fund, and I have a hard time understanding why this is not an emergency,” Talwani said.

“It's very clear to me that Congress was trying to protect the American people,” she said, and lawmakers intended to ensure that in the event of something like a shutdown, “we're not going to make everyone drop dead because it's a political game somewhere else.”

Even if the emergency fund is used to pay SNAP benefits, administration officials say the $5.5 billion would fall short of the $9 billion needed to fully cover the entire month of November. They say recalculating and arranging partial payments will be a logistical nightmare and could take weeks.

This means millions of Americans could still face some delay in their next benefit payments and will receive less than usual.