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It’s up to the US Supreme Court and Congress to decide when full payments will resume under the SNAP food aid program that helps 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries as the financial pressures mount on families in some states.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule Tuesday on a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to keep blocking states from providing full benefits, arguing the money might be needed elsewhere.
The seesawing rulings so far have created a situation where beneficiaries in some states, including Hawaii and New Jersey, have received their full monthly allocations and those in others, such as Nebraska and West Virginia, have seen nothing.
The legal wrangling could be made moot if the US House adopts and Trump signs legislation to end the federal government shutdown quickly.
SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court
The Trump administration chose to cut off funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after October due to the shutdown. That decision sparked lawsuits and a string of swift and contradictory judicial rulings that deal with government power – and impact the food access for 42 million Americans.
The administration went along with a pair of rulings from Oct. 31 from judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding for SNAP. It eventually said that recipients would get up to 65 percent of their regular benefits. But it balked last week when one of the judges said that it must fund the program fully for November, even if itt means digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case of emergencies elsewhere.
The US Supreme Court agreed to pause that order.
An appeals court said Monday that full funding should resume – and that requirement is set to kick in Tuesday night unless the top court takes action again.
It’s also a point in Congressional talks about reopening government
The US Senate on Monday passed legislation to reopen the federal government with a plan that would include replenishing SNAP funds.
Speaker Mike Johnson told members of the House to return to Washington to consider the deal a small group of Senate Democrats made with Republicans.
Trump has not said whether he would sign it if it reaches his desk, but told reporters at the White House on Sunday that it “looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
If the deal is finalized, it’s not clear how quickly SNAP benefits might start flowing.
Still, the Trump administration said in a filing Monday with the Supreme Court that it shouldn’t be up to the courts. “The answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the papers. “The only way to end this crisis – which the Executive is adamant to end – is for Congress to reopen the government.”
The impact is urgent for beneficiaries
The cascading legal rulings – plus the varying responses of each state to the shutoff – means people who rely on SNAP are in vastly different situations.
Some have all their benefits, some have none. In states including North Carolina and Texas, beneficiaries have received partial amounts.
In Pennsylvania, full benefits went out to some people on Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received anything by Monday.
Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and had a series of strokes earlier this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.
That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 a month he receives in SNAP for himself, his wife and daughter. He has yet to receive any SNAP payment for November, and he’s down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left in the pantry – mostly rice and ramen.
“It’s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything down to the penny to make sure I was right,” Malliard said. “To say anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”