Trump says in Truth Social post that SNAP benefits won't be paid until shutdown ends

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FILE: President Donald Trump (Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

President Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday that SNAP benefits won’t be paid until the government reopens.

November SNAP benefits

The backstory:

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The USDA said it had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the government shutdown.

Timeline:

On Monday, the Trump administration said it would partially fund SNAP for November following rulings from two federal judges last week. The government says it will use $4.65 billion from an emergency fund to cover about half the normal benefits.

In a court filing Tuesday, attorneys representing a coalition of U.S. cities and community organizations say the Trump administration is breaking a court order by agreeing to fund only a partial amount of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.

The government responded Monday with a warning that it could take weeks or even months for states to navigate the partial payment process.

However, the coalition’s attorneys contend that strategy violates the order and leaves too many people in limbo waiting for food assistance.

The federal judge in Rhode Island has since given the government until Wednesday to respond.

Big picture view:

SNAP serves about 1 in 8 Americans and costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. 

White House ‘fully complying’, Leavitt says

Meanwhile:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said later on Tuesday during her press briefing that the administration was fully complying with the court order to fund the benefits. 

What they're saying:

"The administration is fully complying with the court order. I just spoke to the president about it," she said, adding, "We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes, for war. And the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future. And that's what he was referring to in his Truth Social post.

So the Department of Agriculture, as for the latest SNAP payment and the judge's order, put out guidance to states today on how to get that money to the recipients of SNAP. But it's going to take some time. The best way to get the full amount of SNAP benefits to those beneficiaries is for Democrats to reopen the government," she said.