The Trump administration wasted little time in appealing a federal court order requiring it to pay full SNAP benefits to recipients this month.
The appeal came soon after a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island directing the administration to secure funds to fully cover November’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments despite the ongoing government shutdown, Newsweek reported Friday.
The judge gave the administration until Friday to comply, though the roughly 42 million Americans who rely on the food assistance program may not immediately receive their full benefits.
McConnell said the administration’s initial plan to fund only 65% of November’s benefits failed to consider the “practical consequences” of reduced payments, citing the harm to low-income families and individuals.
The administration’s move to partially fund the program had followed an earlier court order requiring the use of USDA emergency reserves to keep SNAP operational during the shutdown.
Administration officials immediately filed an appeal, arguing that the ruling oversteps the court’s authority by forcing the executive branch to dictate spending priorities during a funding lapse.
Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized McConnell’s latest decision, calling it “an absurd ruling, because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the middle of a Democrat government shutdown.”
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Vance said the administration wants to restore full funding once Democrats agree to reopen the government, but insisted that courts should not interfere with fiscal triage during a shutdown.
“What we’d like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government, of course,” Vance said, “then we can fund SNAP and a lot of other good things for the American people. 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 had initially halted November SNAP disbursements entirely after congressional appropriations lapsed, triggering panic among state agencies and food banks.
Two separate federal rulings last week ordered partial payments using a $5 billion contingency fund — short of the roughly $9 billion needed to cover all benefits.
Supporters of the court’s decision, including Democrat governors and left-leaning advocacy groups, called the ruling a “major victory for hungry families.”
But conservative lawmakers and administration officials counter that the ruling undermines executive discretion during a shutdown caused by congressional gridlock.
“The president will comply with the law,” Vance said, “but we’re also going to make the government work for people in the best way we can.”
The government shutdown is now the longest in American history.
As the shutdown drags past five weeks, the SNAP dispute highlights a broader battle over constitutional limits between the judiciary and executive branches and over who bears responsibility for the historic impasse in Washington.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
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