BOSTON — A federal judge indicated Thursday she is inclined to take steps to ensure that federal food assistance keeps flowing to 42 million Americans who depend on it. Trump administration officials say because of the government shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, will be cut off on Saturday. "The well has run dry," the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, posted on its website.
But Democratic governors and attorneys general from some two dozen states sued the federal government to keep the payments coming, arguing that SNAP is an entitlement that cannot be cut off. Doing so, they argue, would cause irreparable harm to millions of American citizens, and to states who will be left to deal with the fallout.
After an hour of arguments in Boston federal court, Judge Indira Talwani suggested she was not buying the Trump administration's argument that it is legally barred from using emergency funds to keep the SNAP benefits coming.
"Congress put money in an emergency fund, and it is hard for me to understand how this is not an emergency," Talwani said.
"It's really clear to me that what Congress was trying to do was protect the American people," she said, and lawmakers intended to ensure that in the event of something like a shutdown, "we're not going to make everyone drop dead because it's a political game someplace else."
Even if the emergency fund is tapped for SNAP benefits, administration officials say the $5.5 billion falls short of the $9 billion needed to fully cover the whole month of November. They say recalculating and arranging for partial payments would be a logistical nightmare — and could take weeks.
That means millions of Americans could still see some delay in the next benefit payment, and would receive less than usual.
Copyright 2025 NPR
Loading...
