The entrance to a Big Lots store in Portland, Oregon. (Archive photo by hapabapa/Getty Images)
This report has been updated.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states Friday that it is releasing all November funding for the nation’s major food assistance program that helps 42 million people afford food, complying with a federal court order issued Thursday.
The midday memo to states contradicted the Trump administration’s weeks-long position that funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the government shutdown was illegal. And delayed Friday the government resumed that position, asks the Supreme Court overturning a lower court’s decision that enforced the earlier memo.
The payments would be sent to states on Friday, the department’s Food and Nutrition Service said in a letter to state directors of SNAP, which is funded by the federal government and administered by states. Patrick A. Penn, the assistant secretary of state for food, nutrition and consumer services, wrote this Two paragraph letter.
“Later today, FNS will complete the necessary processes to provide funds to support your eventual submission of complete issuance files to your EBT processor,” Penn wrote. “We will keep you as informed as possible about future developments and appreciate your continued partnership to serve program beneficiaries across the country.”
The move undermined a subsequent appeal by President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday’s order by Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island. The appeal said the government shutdown and resulting lack of funding for SNAP were Congress’ fault and that the department could not be forced to transfer other funds to pay for SNAP benefits.
A Justice Department spokesman said in an email to States Newsroom on Friday that the administration must comply with McConnell’s order until it is granted relief by a higher court.
The shutdown, which began when Congress failed to pass annual spending bills by Oct. 1, left SNAP without appropriated funds for November and beyond. The administration has reversed its own leadership and declined to operate an emergency fund and other accounts with the USDA that were more than sufficient to cover some benefits.
Appeal pending
The USDA’s move conflicted with an appeal brief that the Justice Department filed on behalf of the USDA Friday morning, leaving the future of this litigation unclear.
On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit asked for an urgent freeze on McConnell’s order, calling it a complete overreach of a reasonable administrative decision.
A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeal disputed The government’s request for a stay was answered on the merits delayed Friday, while also stating that it would soon decide on a request for a stay of administration.
The justices — David J. Barron, Gustavo A. Gelpí and Julie Rikelman — were all appointed by Democratic presidents, although Gelpí was appointed to a lower court by Republican President George W. Bush.
The agency said it complied with a Nov. 1 McConnell order to pay either full benefits by Nov. 3 or partial benefits by Nov. 5 by sending states a memo and tables for calculating partial benefits.
The government argued that the USDA had the authority to decide to pay only partial benefits from an emergency fund that included about $4.5 billion. SNAP benefits cost the government about $9 billion per month.
In McConnell’s order Thursday, he rejected that argument and said the partial payment must be made by Nov. 5 to comply with the Oct. 31 order.
The judge said Thursday that because the department failed to meet that deadline, it would have to transfer money from outside the emergency fund to complete SNAP benefits for November.
The government argued to the 1st Circuit that the order was beyond McConnell’s power.
“There is no legal basis for an order directing the USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” the appeal states.
The administration has resisted proposals, including McConnell’s, to tap a $23 billion child nutrition program fund to pay for SNAP benefits in November.
The government asked the appeals court to stay McConnell’s order until 4 p.m. Eastern time Friday.
Problem of “self-design” of government
The coalition of nonprofits and city governments that sued to force the administration to pay November benefits responded later Friday morning that the USDA was responsible for the tight schedule that prompted the department’s complaints.
The department chose between the two options offered by McConnell for paying partial benefits, “but in complete disregard of the conditions the district court had attached to it,” the coalition wrote Friday.
“The defendants’ current situation is therefore entirely their own doing,” they wrote. “They purported to comply with an order of the district court in a manner that was noncompliant; having done so, they cannot complain that the district court ordered them to go the other way.”
The coalition also strongly criticized the government’s decision not to operate the child nutrition program fund. The fund has enough money to pay benefits until at least May, the coalition’s lawyers wrote Friday. But denying SNAP benefits for November would leave 16 million children hungry this month, they said.
Big problem when shutting down
The issue has become a focus of the shutdown, with each party in Washington blaming the other for denying food aid to low-income people and people with disabilities.
The USDA’s quick about-face on Friday seemed to surprise even lawmakers.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, posted on social media after news broke that Trump was “trying to evade a court order requiring him to help millions of hungry Americans.”
Rep. Angie Craig, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement delayed Friday that the administration’s mixed messaging has led to mass confusion, requiring some states to fully fund SNAP while others have not.
“The Trump administration must tell America’s households and states in plain language whether it will continue to appeal the Rhode Island court order or whether it will fully fund November SNAP benefits,” she said. “Americans are still living with uncertainty about what the hell is happening here. The incompetence is breathtaking.”
Republicans have also highlighted the issue, urging Democrats to accept an emergency funding measure to reopen the government at fiscal 2025 spending levels.
“People are going hungry right now because Democrats refuse to agree to a clean, nonpartisan funding extension,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on the Senate floor Friday.
Democrats have blocked a House-passed bill to reopen the government, hoping for assurances that Republicans will work to address expiring tax credits for people who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.
