Trump Administration Tells States to Undo Full Food-Aid Funding

The Trump administration issued a memo telling states to “immediately undo” any action taken to fully fund November food-aid benefits, adding further uncertainty around the program that provides support to 42 million low-income Americans.

Amid the ongoing government shutdown, the US Agriculture Department issued the directive in a Saturday memo and said that states that didn’t “comply” could face financial penalties. 

The memo comes after the Trump administration asked an appeals court to pause a judge’s order requiring the US to fully fund November’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SN, by Friday. US District Judge John McConnell ordered the administration to use alternative reserve funds to send states the $8.5 billion to $9 billion needed this month.

The US Supreme Court temporarily paused the judge’s order in order to allow an appeals court to further review it, allowing the Trump administration to withhold $4 billion in food aid for now. 

The Trump administration is challenging the decision in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and argued in its Friday filing that there are only enough funds to pay for partial SN benefits for this month. The administration had previously committed to covering 65% of benefits for November after losing an earlier round in court. They warned the process would likely take weeks or even months. 

Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement that she believed the Trump administration was “demanding that food assistance be taken away from the households that have already received it.”

“They would rather go door to door, taking away people’s food, than do the right thing and fully fund SN for November so that struggling veterans, seniors, and children can keep food on the table,” she said.

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