Trump administration will fund SNAP food benefits at 50% the normal payment : NPR
Food banks across the country are trying to make up for the pause in SNAP benefits. The courts say benefits must be reinstated, but it’s unclear when. Here, volunteers at Park Hill Food Pantry in Denver work to meet the need Friday.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
hide caption
toggle caption
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Trump administration says it will restore SNAP food benefits, but will only pay out half the amount people normally receive.
The administration says it will use money from a Department of Agriculture contingency fund. The $5 billion in this fund is far less than the total cost of SNAP benefits – $8 billion – each month. In a court filing, officials said the depletion of this fund means “there will be no funds left for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely.”
The move comes after two federal judges ruled that freezing payments for the nation’s largest hunger program was illegal, even though the money ran out this weekend for the 42 million people who rely on SNAP for food. The government’s response is part of Rhode Island’s case.
The Trump administration had until Monday to notify two federal judges of its plans to restore SNAP funding amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The administration warns that there could be long delays before benefits reach low-income families who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.
About 1 in 8 U.S. residents receive an average of $187 per month per person under SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Nearly 39% of beneficiaries are children and adolescents under the age of 18, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the program.
Courts ask Trump to use emergency funds
Citing a government shutdown, the USDA froze funding for SNAP starting November 1 – the first time this has happened since the nation’s largest hunger-relief program began sixty years ago. On Friday, two federal judges ruled that the pause was likely illegal.
Both justices said Congress provided more than $5 billion in emergency funds for exactly this kind of situation, and they rejected the Trump administration’s argument that it couldn’t legally use that money to keep SNAP running. Not only can she use the money, she must, the judges said.
In Rhode Island, Judge John McConnell Jr. called for contingency funds to be used as quickly as possible. A second judge, Indira Talwani in Boston, said authorities could also draw additional funds from customs revenue, but she left that decision to the Trump administration — something it declined to do.
After the rulings were issued Friday, Trump posted on social media that his lawyers would ask the court for clarification on how to fund SNAP. And if they get it, “it will be MY HONOR to provide the funding, just as I did for the pay of the military and law enforcement,” Trump wrote.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN on Sunday that the Trump administration would not appeal the judges’ decision. He said it’s possible SNAP funding “will be” restored by Wednesday, but “there’s a process that has to be followed. We have to understand what the process is.”
Delays and “a logistical nightmare”
A delay in benefit payments was expected regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits, because many recipients have their cards reloaded at the beginning of the month and the process of loading cards can take a week or more in many states.
The government said Monday that state agencies will have to recode their eligibility systems to accommodate the reduced benefits, and it’s unclear how soon state systems will be able to do so. He warned that in some states, these system changes “will take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.”
The Trump administration has already said that calculating partial payments is a logistical nightmare that could take time to organize amid the 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 Washington, have also announced measures to support food banks and pantries.
Food banks cannot replace SNAP
What is clear is that a lot of money has disappeared from people’s food budgets, and anti-hunger advocates say food banks alone won’t be able to make up the difference.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” Elizabeth Keever, resource director at Harvesters, a food bank in Kansas City, Missouri, told NPR on Sunday.
“It’s almost impossible to close the gap that SNAP leaves us, but we’re doing everything we can to make sure we ease that burden for people,” Keever said. “It’s just a really scary time where there’s a lot of uncertainty. So the gap is huge and ultimately food banks can’t necessarily fill it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
