A U.S. Department of Agriculture official also warned the court that it could take some states “anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months” to recalculate household benefit amounts and implement the partial payment.
The Justice Department said in its latest court filing that officials are working “diligently” to comply with a ruling last week from a judge in Rhode Island requiring officials to at least partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits for November.
But the document also includes a notice that while the Agriculture Department intends to “deplete” a SNAP contingency fund per the order, officials had decided that they would not tap into other federal sources to fully fund benefits this month.
The latest update from the administration follows back-to-back rulings from federal judges in Boston and Rhode Island who found that officials likely violated U.S. law in suspending SNAP during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
Skye Perryman , president of Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal advocacy group representing the nonprofits and city governments that sued in Rhode Island, said in a statement that they are “reviewing the administration’s submission to the court and considering all legal options to secure payment of full funds.”
“It shouldn’t take a court order to force our president to provide essential nutrition that Congress has made clear needs to be provided,” Perryman said. “For now, we are pleased to have forced the administration to release money it had been withholding from 42 million people in America who rely on their benefits.”
U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ordered the Agriculture Department to resume at least partial funding for the program using the contingency fund.
In Monday’s report, the Agriculture Department official told McConnell that the government would use all of the $4.65 billion that was left in the $6 billion SNAP contingency fund to cover half of funding benefits for this month.
More than 42 million people in 22 million households nationwide receive SNAP benefits, according to government data. It would take between $8 billion and $9 billion to fully fund the payments for November.
The government had argued that revising the approved benefits amounts based on partial funding was an unworkable solution that could crash outdated computer systems.
McConnell wrote that given those representations, the administration should, “within its discretion,” tap other sources of federal dollars to fully cover this month’s benefits — in particular, a fund for child nutrition programs that draws from U.S. customs receipts.
But the Agriculture official said in Monday’s filing that the administration had determined that pulling money from the tariff proceeds would “further stray from congressional intent” and create a shortfall in the money available for programs that provide meals at schools for children in low-income households.
States determine who is eligible for the program and then facilitate making the federal funds available each month on benefits cards that function like bank debit cards.
The Trump administration announced that it would pause the program after Congress failed to reach a spending deal by the start of the new fiscal year. Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse over reopening the government.
The Boston federal judge is presiding over a separate fight over the SNAP suspension brought by Democratic officials in more than two dozen states and the District of Columbia. The judge ruled against the administration’s legal stance, but stopped short of ordering the government to make the payments.
The Justice Department is also due to file a status report in that case on Monday.
The case is Rhode Island State Council of Churches v. Rollins, 25-cv-569, US District Court , District of Rhode Island (Providence).
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