Food banks across the country are trying to make up for the pause in SNAP benefits. The courts say the benefits should be restored, but it is unclear when. Here, Park Hill Food Pantry volunteers in Denver work to meet the need on Friday.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Trump administration says it will restore SNAP food benefits, but will only pay half the amount people normally receive.
The administration will use money from the Ministry of Agriculture's reserve fund. The administration says the fund has only $4.65 billion available to pay SNAP benefits, which is about half of the $8 billion in food assistance benefits people receive each month.
In a court filing, officials said depleting that fund means there will be “no funds left for new SNAP applicants certified in November to provide disaster relief or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of a complete SNAP shutdown.” The Trump administration has refused to use any additional funds for SNAP, saying it could take money away from other child nutrition programs such as school lunch and breakfast programs.
The decision comes after two federal judges ruled that freezing benefits from the nation's largest hunger-relief program is illegal, even as money ran out this weekend for the 42 million people who rely on SNAP to put food on their plates. The government's response is part of the story in Rhode Island.
The Trump administration had until Monday to tell two federal judges its plans to restore SNAP funding amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The administration warns there could be long delays before benefits reach low-income families who rely on SNAP to put food on their plates.
About one in eight people in the United States receive an average of $187 per month per person from SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Almost 39% of recipients are children and adolescents under 18 years of age.according to the Ministry of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the program.
Courts order Trump to use emergency funds
Citing the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture froze funding for the SNAP program effective Nov. 1 for the first time since the nation's largest hunger-relief program began six decades ago. On Friday, two federal judges ruled that the pause was likely illegal.
Both justices said Congress has provided more than $5 billion in emergency funds for just this type of situation, and they rejected the Trump administration's proposal argument that he cannot legally use that money to continue SNAP. Not only can it use the money, but it should, the judges said.
In Rhode Island, Judge John McConnell Jr. called for emergency funds to be used as quickly as possible. The second judge, Indira Talwani of Boston, said officials could also get additional money from customs revenue, but she left that decision up to the Trump administration, which it has declined to do.
Democracy Forward, a legal group that represented cities and nonprofits in a lawsuit against the government after it froze SNAP funding, said Monday it was considering its next steps to try to ensure the food assistance program is fully funded.
“It doesn’t take a court order to force our president to provide the necessary nutrition that Congress has made clear,” Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement. “But because this is what is needed, we will continue to use the courts to protect people's rights.”
After Friday's rulings, Trump posted on social media that his lawyers would seek clarity from the court on how to fund SNAP. And if they get it, “I would be honored to provide the funding, just as I have done for military and law enforcement salaries,” Trump wrote.
Minister of Finance Scott Bessant told CNN on Sunday that the Trump administration will not appeal the judges' decision. He said it's possible that SNAP funding “could” be restored by Wednesday, but “there's a process that needs to be followed. We have to figure out what that process is.”
Delays and “logistical nightmare”
The delay in benefit payments was expected regardless of the outcome of the court cases, since many beneficiaries' cards are loaded at the beginning of the month, and in many states the process of loading cards can take a week or more.
The government said Monday that state agencies will have to recode their benefit systems to accommodate benefit cuts, and it's unclear how quickly state systems will be able to do that. He warned that in some states these systemic changes “will take weeks to months.”
The Trump administration has previously said that calculating partial payments is a logistical nightmare that could take time in the midst of a shutdown.
Several states have said they will use their own funds to cover any shortfall in SNAP funding. However, the Trump administration has warned that it will not reimburse states. Several states, including Arkansas, New Hampshire And Washingtonalso announced measures to help support food banks and pantries.
Food banks cannot replace SNAP
One thing is clear: a lot of money has disappeared from people's food budgets, and anti-hunger advocates say food banks alone won't make up the difference.
“We're in uncharted territory,” says Elizabeth Keever, resource director for Harvesters, a food bank in Kansas City, Missouri. told NPR on Sunday.
“It's almost impossible to fill the gap that SNAP leaves us with, but we're doing everything we can to ease that burden for people,” Keever said. “It's a really scary moment where there's a lot of uncertainty. So the gap is huge, and at the end of the day, food banks aren't necessarily going to be able to fill it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
