As the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — America’s largest food assistance program for unemployed, low-income Americans — faces funding uncertainty and raises fears of a hunger crisis amid the ongoing government shutdown, two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to continue funding it through an emergency reserve, two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled.
The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major part of the nation’s social safety net — and costs about $8 billion a month nationally.
The decision, which directs the Trump administration to use emergency reserves to find a food assistance program to feed millions of Americans, came a day before the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze SNAP payments, saying it could no longer continue funding because of the shutdown.
The funding freeze had been planned since November 1, a month after the US government shutdown went into effect.
November 1st, Saturday, will mark the first ever SNAP outage.
In Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ruled that SNAP must be funded with at least one emergency reserve. He also asked for a progress update by Monday 3 November.
The administration argued that it could not use a contingency fund of roughly $5 billion for the program, reversing the USDA’s pre-shutdown plan, which earmarked those funds to keep SNAP operational.
Democratic officials have argued that the money not only can be used, but must be. They also said that a separate fund of about $23 billion is available for the cause.
On Thursday, October 30, New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and released $65 million to aid food banks to avert the city’s hunger crisis. Federal funding for the nation’s food stamp program is set to expire on Nov. 1.
New York receives nearly $650 million in federal funding for SNAP benefits each month, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
After New York declared a state of emergency, Oregon and Virginia also issued states of emergency to free up funds for emergency food assistance before aid runs out for millions of low-income Americans who depend on food stamps for basic nutrition and health.
According to Reuters, more than 41 million people receive food benefits in the United States.
