Court extends pause on order for Trump to fund food aid
The U.S. Supreme Court extended the pause on a judge’s order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund food aid to 42 million low-income Americans this month because of the government shutdown.
The court’s decision allows the administration to continue withholding about $US4 billion ($A6.1 billion) from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, for now.
Administration lawyers told the justices that ending the government shutdown would eliminate the need to stay the judge’s order, so the court’s extension of the deadline granted by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson last Friday may be short-lived.
Jackson wrote Tuesday that the administration would deny a request to further stay the judge’s order.
The extended pause will end on Thursday.
The U.S. Senate on Monday approved compromise legislation that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, ending weeks of stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and disrupted air traffic.
SNAP benefits expired at the beginning of the month for the first time in the program’s 60-year history. Buyers turned to already limited food stores and made sacrifices, such as giving up medications, to stretch tight budgets.
Stacy Smith, an eligibility technician with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services and president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2882, said lines were forming around the block of her office as SNAP recipients sought information about benefits.
“It was very stressful, discouraging and scary for the families,” Smith said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment.
The agency has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the shutdown and resulting disruptions to SNAP. Democrat-led states have fought the administration in court to ensure full benefits.
Many food banks have seen an increase in donations as communities come together to support pantries already strained by years of increases in hunger rates and food price inflation.
