Trump administration files appeal in SNAP case
The Trump administration today filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, asking for an immediate stay in the ruling by District Judge John McConnell that the Agriculture Department had to pay full November benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by today.The appeal says that amid Congress’s failure to pass a bill funding the government including SNAP, the administration had complied with earlier rulings to pay out partial November benefits by exhausting the SNAP contingency fund, but that it should not have to use funds in Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, as McConnell ordered, because that money has been appropriated for other purposes
“This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” the administration said in the filing.Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, said today, “The administration should be ashamed. They are fighting to take away food from children, seniors and hardworking Americans.””The court has ordered that the administration has both the power and the money to fully fund SNAP this month and has compelled them to do it. It is coldhearted of the administration to dismiss the hurt that Americans across the country are feeling right now,” Craig said. “The Trump administration should drop its appeal and do the right thing — fully fund SNAP now.”
Abby Leibman, president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, said, “It’s validating and truly powerful to see Judge McConnell’s order requiring the Trump administration to fully fund and issue SNAP benefits by tomorrow.”
“This court order bolsters what we have known for weeks — that the Trump administration recklessly and unnecessarily drove millions of people into hunger, anxiety, and despair as they lost their critically-needed SNAP benefits,” Leibman said.”
And it is equally enraging that Trump’s Department of Justice almost immediately announced its intent to appeal the order. That it is now the official position of this administration that they are not responsible for Americans in need is not surprising, but it is certainly appalling. “Let us not forget that here, in the richest country on earth, it took judicial intervention to force the president to carry out a program that keeps 42 million low-income Americans fed. As Judge McConnell himself wrote, ‘This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided.’ That is a devastating reality.
“Now, we must keep the pressure up to make sure the Trump administration drops this unconscionable appeal, immediately releases SNAP contingency funds, transfers any additional funds necessary, and issues clear and accurate guidance to states to end this nonsense. Enough is enough,” Leibman said.
It is unclear what impact McConnell’s ruling and the appeal will have on the distribution of partial SNAP benefits for November.
Earlier this week, the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service said state agencies that administer SNAP a memo that the percentage of benefits that can be paid out for November is 65% of the normal amount, not 50% as advised earlier.
–The Hagstrom Report
