The United States’ Supreme Court on Tuesday supported President Donald Trump’s decision to block Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments by extending a temporary pause on the $4 billion food-aid programme on Tuesday.
It has kept partial payments in place for now, at least until midnight Thursday, even as the Senate has approved a bill to end the shutdown. The House of Representatives could vote on it as early as Wednesday.
Reopening the government would restart the programme, also known as food stamps, that helps 42 million Americans buy groceries, but it’s not clear how quickly full payments would resume.
The Trump administration has argued that, because of the shutdown, it could only spend $5 billion instead of the usual nearly $9 billion out of a contingency fund to partially pay for November’s SNAP benefits.
The government also objected to Rhode Island-based US District Judge John McConnell’s order that required the other roughly $4 billion to be paid from a separate section of funds that pay child nutrition programs, called Section 32.
Also Read: US Senate approves bill to end longest Govt shutdown in history
The justices chose what is effectively the path of least resistance, anticipating the federal government shutdown will end soon while avoiding any substantive legal ruling about whether lower court orders to keep full payments flowing during the shutdown are correct.
SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court since the Trump administration chose to cut off its funding after October due to the shutdown.
Its failure to fund SNAP was challenged by a coalition, including cities, churches and nonprofits that provide food assistance
The administration then went along with two rulings on October 31 by judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding for SNAP.
It eventually said recipients would get up to 65 per cent of their regular benefits, but balked last week when one of the judges said it must fund the programme fully for November, even if that means digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case of emergencies elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson told members of the House to return to Washington to consider the deal a small group of Senate Democrats made with Republicans.
President Donald Trump, while not divulging whether he would sign it if it reaches his desk, told reporters at the White House on Sunday that it “looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
The coalition of cities and nonprofit groups who challenged the SNAP pause said in a court filing Tuesday that the Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, is to blame for the confusion.
“The chaos was sown by USDA’s delays and intransigence,” they said, “not by the district court’s efforts to mitigate that chaos and the harm it has inflicted on families who need food.”
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