The Trump administration over the weekend ordered states to stop distributing full food assistance benefits for November to the 42 million low-income Americans at risk of food insecurity.
A memo from the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service directs states to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue” full payments to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Instead, the White House is asking states to issue only partial payments - which are about65percent of a usual SNAP payment.
The memo warns states that if they do not comply with the orders, they will face consequences, including the cancellation of federal funding that states need to cover some of SNAP’s administrative costs.
The federal government pays for all SNAP benefits, but states administer the program to its residents. States and the federal government share administrative costs.
The move came after Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson late Friday evening temporarily blocked a Rhode Island judge’s order, which directed the Trump administration to release November SNAP benefits in full by that same day.
On Thursday, the Rhode Island judge ruled that the Trump administration has resisted paying full benefits amid a legal battle over whether federal officials would deliver the funds for the program, which is a vital lifeline for millions of people who rely on it to afford groceries.
While earlier Friday the Trump administration had said it was working to release the benefits to comply with the Rhode Island judge’s order - suggesting that the money would indeed be disbursed - the administration appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.
