Fed Judge Orders Full SNAP Benefits    11/07 06:25

   A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to 
find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision that the 
administration promptly appealed.

   (AP) -- A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration 
Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision 
that the administration promptly appealed.

   The ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. gave President 
Donald Trump's administration until Friday to make the payments through the 
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though it's unlikely the 42 million 
Americans -- about 1 in 8, most of them in poverty -- will see the money on the 
debit cards they use for groceries nearly that quickly.

   The order was in response to a challenge from cities and nonprofits 
complaining that the administration was only offering to cover 65% of the 
maximum benefit, a decision that would have left some recipients getting 
nothing for this month.

   "The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated 
with this decision to only partially fund SNAP," McConnell said in a ruling 
from the bench after a brief hearing. "They knew that there would be a long 
delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms 
individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer."

   McConnell was one of two judges who ruled last week that the administration 
could not skip November's benefits entirely because of the federal shutdown.

   Shortly after the judges' rulings, lawyers for the Trump administration 
filed a motion to appeal, contesting both Thursday's decision and the earlier 
one last Saturday that ordered the federal government to use emergency reserves 
to fund the food program throughout November.

   Vice President JD Vance told reporters the ruling was "absurd."

   "What we'd like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government of 
course, then we can fund SNAP," Vance said at an unrelated White House event. 
"But in the midst of a shutdown, we can't have a federal court telling the 
president how he has to triage the situation."

   The Trump administration chose partial payments this week

   Last month, the administration said that it would halt SNAP payments for 
November if the government shutdown wasn't resolved.

   A coalition of cities and nonprofits sued in federal court in Rhode Island, 
and Democratic state officials from across the country did so in Massachusetts.

   The judges in both cases ordered the government to use one emergency reserve 
fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it 
leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 
billion and $9 billion each month.

   On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying 
it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the 
other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.

   The partial funding brought on complications

   McConnell harshly criticized the Trump administration for making that choice.

   "Without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are 
immediately at risk of going hungry," he said. "This should never happen in 
America. In fact, it's likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here."

   Tyler Becker, the attorney for the government, unsuccessfully argued that 
the Trump administration had followed the court's order in issuing the partial 
payments. "This all comes down to Congress not having appropriated funds 
because of the government shutdown," he said.

   Kristin Bateman, a lawyer for the coalition of cities and nonprofit 
organizations, told the judge the administration had other reasons for not 
fully funding the benefits.

   "What defendants are really trying to do is to leverage people's hunger to 
gain partisan political advantage in the shutdown fight," Bateman told the 
court.

   McConnell said last week's order required that those payments be made 
"expeditiously" and "efficiently" -- and by Wednesday -- or a full payment 
would be required. "Nothing was done consistent with the court's order to clear 
the way to expeditiously resolve it," McConnell said.

   There were other twists and turns this week

   The administration said in a court filing on Monday that it could take weeks 
or even months for some states to make calculations and system changes to load 
the debit cards used in the SNAP program. At the time, it said it would fund 
50% of the maximum benefits.

   The next day, Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefits at all 
unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government. His press 
secretary later said that the partial benefits were being paid for November -- 
and that it is future payments that are at risk if the shutdown continues.

   And Wednesday night, it recalculated, telling states that there was enough 
money to pay for 65% of the maximum benefits.

   Under a decades-old formula in federal regulations, everyone who received 
less than the maximum benefit would get a larger percentage reduction. Some 
families would have received nothing and some single people and two-person 
households could have gotten as little as $16.

   Carmel Scaife, a former day care owner in Milwaukee who hasn't been able to 
work since receiving multiple severe injuries in a car accident seven years 
ago, said she normally receives $130 a month from SNAP. She said that despite 
bargain hunting, that is not nearly enough for a month's worth of groceries.

   Scaife, 56, said that any cuts to her benefit will mean she will need to 
further tap her Social Security income for groceries. "That'll take away from 
the bills that I pay," she said. "But that's the only way I can survive."

   The next legal step is unclear

   This type of order is usually not subject to an appeal, but the Trump 
administration has challenged other rulings like it before.

   An organization whose lawyers filed the challenge signaled it would continue 
the battle if needed.

   "We shouldn't have to force the President to care for his citizens," 
Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement, "but we 
will do whatever is necessary to protect people and communities."

   It often takes SNAP benefits a week or more to be loaded onto debit cards 
once states initiate the process.