A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund the nation’s food stamps program by Friday, days after mandating officials to use contingency funds for the program, lawyers announced. The newest order could help more than 40 million Americans who are enrolled in SNAP benefits.
U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. made the ruling Thursday in a lawsuit brought forth by several nonprofit organizations and localities that argued the administration “plunged SNAP into crisis,” according to court documents. McConnell previously ordered the Trump administration to partially fund and distribute benefits as soon as possible.
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“The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened and needless suffering will occur,” McConnell said during a hearing, NBC News reported.
The groups are being represented by legal advocacy group Democracy Forward and DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry and Revens Law in Rhode Island. They filed the lawsuit last week after the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, said it would suspend benefits as of Saturday, Nov. 1, should the government remain closed.
“Today is a major victory for 42 million people in America,” Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a news release. “The court could not be more clear – the Trump-Vance administration must stop playing politics with people’s lives by delaying SNAP payments they are obligated to issue.”
Congress has failed to pass a funding bill and the government has been shut down since Wednesday, Oct. 1.
A pause in food assistance forced communities to rely heavily on food banks that are already helping furloughed federal workers.
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SNAP benefits are calculated by subtracting 30% of a household’s monthly net income from maximum benefits for household size.
Trump admin ordered to fund SNAP
McConnell noted during his ruling that Trump has flouted ignoring his orders. Days after Trump’s threat, the White House said that Trump wasn’t threatening aid, but expressing frustration about needing to use emergency funds to cover it.
“In fact, the day before the compliance was ordered,” McConnell said, according to ABC News, “The president stated his intent to defy the court order when he said, ‘SNAP payments will be given only when the government opens.’”
He added that the Trump administration didn’t act to make sure that SNAP benefits were delivered this year.
The Trump administration previously agreed on Nov. 1 to use $4.65 billion in contingency funds to partially fund SNAP, which covered 65% of the $9 billion needed to fund the program. They, however, declined to use appropriations set aside for child nutrition programs as it affected the nation’s free and reduced-price school lunch program.
McConnell’s order Thursday mandates the administration to tap into those programs after the USDA used the program to fund the Women and Infant Children nutrition program, CNN reported.
“Without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry,” McConnell said. “Children are immediately at risk of going hungry. This should never happen in America.”
