(Nov. 3) WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Monday it will only partially fund the food stamp program through November.
About 440,000 Minnesotans lost their food stamp benefits on Saturday, as did about 42 million Americans across the country, because the Trump administration said the shutdown resulted in a lack of money to continue benefits.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — known as SNAP or food stamps — was shut down after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would not tap into a $5.5 billion contingency fund to pay for November benefits.
Last week, John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ordered the USDA to release those funds in a case brought by the Rhode Island State Council of Churches and nonprofit groups and several cities.
In its response Monday, the Trump administration said it will tap $4.65 billion in emergency money to cover about half of this month’s benefits. It declined to dip into other contingency funds to pay the full $8 billion needed to cover SNAP in November.
In a separate case filed by Minnesota, 24 other states and the District of Columbia, a federal judge in Massachusetts last week directed the Trump administration to decide by Monday whether it would use the contingency funds for food aid, saying it was likely illegal for it not to do so.
Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts also said the USDA has discretion to access other funding, such as a fund established by custom duties on imported food that pays for the Child Nutrition Program, to provide SNAP beneficiaries their full benefits, which average about $166 a month per individual.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also said the USDA could tap other monies to fully fund the program.
“The courts have ordered the administration to use its contingency fund for SNAP — and have made clear it can use its transfer authorities to fully fund SNAP,” Klobuchar said in a social media post. “It is not enough to do the bare minimum — they should do everything they can to ensure Americans put food on the table.”
Although McConnell ordered the USDA to “immediately” release payments to states — which administer the food stamp program — it’s unclear how long it would take before recipients receive their partial payments.
The USDA said it will provide all states with a table on Monday to calculate what benefits will be made available for each eligible household. Those states will be able to send SNAP payments to beneficiaries once the table is completed. But no new food stamp applicants would receive benefits.
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