A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from cutting off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beginning this weekend because of the government shutdown, ordering officials to first spend an emergency fund.
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The roughly $5.25 billion fund is not enough to fully cover November benefits for the food assistance program, which will cost the government upward of $9 billion.
But U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s order prevents the administration from completely drying up the benefit for more than 40 million Americans starting Saturday, rejecting arguments that the emergency fund can be used only for hurricanes or other uncontrollable catastrophes.
“SNAP benefits have never, until now, been terminated,” McConnell said at a hearing. “And the United States has in fact admitted that the contingency funds are appropriately used during a shutdown and that occurred in 2019.”
He ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to distribute the emergency funds “timely or as soon as possible” and provide an update to the court by Monday.
The looming SNAP lapse became the latest visible sign of the government shutdown, which has dragged into a fifth week.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter, I’m Sylvan Lane — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
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