The hearing comes two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can’t continue funding it due to the shutdown.
The hearing comes two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can’t continue funding it due to the shutdown.
BOSTON A federal judge in Boston on Thursday challenged the Trump administration’s argument that SNAP benefits could be suspended for the first time in the food aid program’s history because of the government shutdown.
During a hearing over a request from 25 Democratic-led states to keep the funding rolling. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani told lawyers that if the government can’t afford to cover the program, there’s a process to follow rather than simply suspending all benefits. “The steps involve finding an equitable way of reducing benefits,” said Talwani, who was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama.
The hearing comes two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can’t continue funding it due to the shutdown.
The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. Word in October that it would be a Nov. 1 casualty of the shutdown sent states, food banks and SNAP recipients scrambling to figure out how to secure food. Some states said they would spend their funds to keep versions of the program going.
The program costs around $8 billion per month.
