Court lets Trump withhold $US4b in food aid funding
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to withhold for now nearly $4 billion needed to fully fund a food aid program for 42 million low-income Americans this month amid a federal government shutdown.
The court order, known as an administrative stay, gives the lower court additional time to consider the administration’s formal request for only partial funding of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, or food stamps, for November.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who issued the stay, determined it would expire two days after the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the administration’s request to stay a judge’s order that the U.S. Department of Agriculture immediately pay the full amount of this month’s SNAP benefits, which cost $8.5 billion to $9 billion a month.
The decision by U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, comes after the administration announced it would provide $4.65 billion in emergency funds to partially cover SNAP benefits for November.
The 1st Circuit is expected to rule on the administration’s request to block McConnell’s order “by referral,” Jackson said.
U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi noted the Supreme Court decision in a post about X; This decision paused the court’s decision, which he described as “judicial activism at its worst.”
Justice Department lawyers told the Supreme Court that McConnell’s order, if allowed to stand, would “create further shutdown chaos” by leading to a “bank run by judicial fiat.”
The administration had initially planned to suspend SNAP benefits entirely in November, citing a lack of funding due to the shutdown.
But McConnell last week ordered USDA to use emergency SNAP funding to cover some of this month’s costs.
The decision ordered USDA to make up its deficit with $23.35 billion in funds from tariffs supporting child nutrition, as well as money from a separate department program.
The 1st Circuit on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request for an administrative stay of McConnell’s decision.
It has not yet issued a decision on the administration’s formal request to stay the judge’s decision, but the 1st Circuit panel of three judges appointed by Democratic presidents said it would do so “as soon as possible.”
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.
SNAP benefits are paid monthly to eligible Americans whose income is less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line. The maximum monthly benefit for fiscal year 2026 is $298 for a one-person household and $546 for a two-person household.
