The White House has said it is complying with a court order that forces the Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits in November.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which are provided to approximately 42 million Americans, have faced major disruption during the ongoing government shutdown due to a lack of regular appropriations.
The federal government said in October that benefits would not be paid on time and that it would not use Agriculture Department contingency funds to tide the program over, saying the reserve was for other situations, such as natural disasters.
However, federal judges in Rhode Island and Boston ruled last Friday that the government must continue funding—at least in part—SNAP during the shutdow using the emergency funds.
Speaking from the White House on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The administration is fully complying with that court order. I just spoke to the president about it.”
Leavitt also addressed a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, in which he said SNAP “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.”
“We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes, for war,” Leavitt said. “And the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future, and that’s what he was referring to in his Truth Social post.”
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
This is breaking news story. More to follow.
