Boston: President Donald Trump’s administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to block a judge’s order that it distribute November’s full monthly SNAP benefits amid a US government shutdown, even as at least some states said they were moving quickly to get the money to people.
US District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. had given Trump’s administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But Trump’s administration asked the appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund.
The court filing came even as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said on Friday that some SNAP recipients in the state already had received their full November payments overnight on Thursday.
“We’ve received confirmation that payments went through, including members reporting they can now see their balances,” she said.
The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for the food program that serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.
Last week’s rulings ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing USD 4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between USD 8.5 billion and USD 9 billion each month.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the programme.
The next day, Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefits at all unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government.
His press secretary later said that partial benefits were being paid for November -- and that it is future payments that are at risk if the shutdown continues.
Late Wednesday, the USDA, which runs the programme, said in a filing in the federal court in Rhode Island that it had done further analysis and found that the maximum benefit will be 65 per cent of the usual amount.