Two federal judges ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must tap into a contingency fund to continue to fund critical food aid.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to run out of money on Nov. 1 due to the now 31-day-long federal government shutdown, which Democrats have voted to prolong 13 times. The contingency fund has just over $5 billion in congressionally appropriated funds, which Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said at a Friday press conference is not enough to fund the program for even half of November.
Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, appointed by former President Barack Obama, gave the administration until Monday to say whether they will tap into the fund or source funds from elsewhere to keep the program running. Rhode Island-based Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., also an Obama appointee, ordered the contingency fund be used and requested an update on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
The rulings are likely to face appeals, and even if money begins to flow, it’s unclear how quickly beneficiaries would have access to the program, as it takes roughly two weeks to reload the debit cards used to buy groceries, according to the AP. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters on Friday it could take “weeks or months” for a court to determine whether funds move or not.
About 42 million Americans rely on SNAP, the largest food aid program in the nation, and it costs $9.2 billion to run the program.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said it is illegal to use the fund to keep SNAP afloat, but funds from tariff revenue as well as unused research and development funds from the Pentagon have been used to both fund the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program and pay U.S. service members.
Democrats have pointed to a separate fund with $23 billion available, but Republicans have rebuked Democrats for withholding their votes to reopen the government, leaving SNAP and multiple other programs in danger of lapsing.
Johnson highlighted at the press conference that funding SNAP would only solve one issue the shutdown has spurred, leaving federal employees, military members and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers to continue bearing the brunt of the frozen government’s impacts.
“When they voted against the CR [continuing resolution], the CR would have kept all this funding, and they chose not to do it, not once, not twice, 13 times in the Senate, once in the House, 14 times overall,” Johnson said.
“SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food. People should be getting paid in this country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “We’ve tried to do that 13 times. You voted ‘no’ 13 times. This isn’t a political game. These are real people’s lives that we’re talking about — and you all have just figured out that 29 days in that ‘oh there might be some consequences.’”
USDA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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