A federal court ruled that the Trump administration must present a plan to start issuing full SNAP payments by Monday, or partial payments by Wednesday.
The Trump administration is waiting to hear from the courts on funding food stamp benefits for low-income Americans during the ongoing government shutdown, and payments could restart by Nov. 5 per a court order, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Bessent was asked by CNN’s “State of the Union” on Nov. 2 about the recent federal court ruling in Rhode Island that ordered the Trump administration to make full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food aid benefit payments available by Monday, or partial payments by Wednesday.
When asked if payments could resume by Wednesday, he said they “could be.”
He added that “five Democratic senators could cross the aisle and open the government by Wednesday,” saying that would be “the easiest way to do this.”
Bessent said the Trump administration will not appeal the court ruling.
President Donald Trump “needs to hear from the courts how this is going to be done,” Bessent said.
Food stamp payments—which more than 41 million Americans rely on every month to survive—did not go out on Nov. 1 as originally scheduled, as the government shutdown enters its fifth week.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had warned on Oct. 25 that the “well has run dry” and that no benefits would be issued on Saturday.
The agency stated in a memo obtained by The Epoch Times a day prior that USDA emergency funds cannot legally be used to keep the SNAP program running if Congress doesn’t vote to pass a funding agreement.
The memo states that the money is used for emergencies such as “hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice.”
However, the memo contradicted the USDA’s Sept. 30 “Lapse of Funding Plan” page that has since been deleted from the agency’s website.
“Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds that can be used for State Administrative Expenses to ensure that the State can also continue operations during a Federal Government shutdown,” the agency’s now-deleted shutdown policy reads. “These multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
By Jacob Burg
