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More than 40mn poor Americans face uncertainty over government food aid amid a partisan stand-off in Washington, with two judges on Friday ordering Donald Trump’s administration to pay billions of dollars of subsidies it has claimed are unavailable.
Funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) were set to lapse on Saturday for the first time in its more than 60-year history as the government shutdown enters its second month.
While the shutdown has led the government to furlough hundreds of thousands of federal employees, the stalemate has had less-visible effects on the day-to-day lives of people living outside of Washington.
That was about to change with the threatened freeze on the subsidies widely known as food stamps. The almost $100bn doled out in the past fiscal year provides assistance to about 42mn people across the US. Each receives an average of $187 a month, according to the US Department of Agriculture. About four in 10 are children.
The White House said because Senate Democrats have blocked passage of a spending bill in order to preserve government healthcare benefits, the resulting shutdown leaves it unable to fund more than $8bn in expected Snap outlays due in November.
Federal judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts on Friday separately ruled the Trump administration must continue to make at least partial payments under the programme, rejecting its claims that billions of dollars in contingency funds were restricted to natural disasters.
Despite the orders, at least some Snap recipients would not receive funds as expected on Saturday.
While it was not immediately clear if the Trump administration would appeal against the rulings, the president on Friday night posted on social media that he had asked lawyers to clarify with the court how the government could fund Snap as soon as possible.
Before Friday’s rulings, Gina Plata-Nino, director of Snap at the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger group, said: “Benefits are going to be delayed even if funding is restored right now.”
Chief Judge John McConnell Jr in the US district court of Rhode Island issued a temporary restraining order requiring the release of all available Snap funding, in response to a lawsuit by charitable, labour and municipal groups. The plaintiffs had sought a nationwide order.
In Massachusetts, Judge Indira Talwani said the agriculture department was required to use reserve accounts to maintain the Snap programme. She gave the administration until Monday to say whether it would pay full or reduced benefits.
In her order, which responded to a lawsuit by more than two dozen states, Talwani wrote Snap funding would not be available as scheduled starting on Saturday.
“[A]t least some recipients will not receive Snap payments at the beginning of the month and this absence of Snap payments will undoubtedly result in substantial harm to them,” Talwani wrote.
Her order noted the agriculture department published a “lapse in funding plan” at the beginning of the shutdown on September 30, affirming that Snap operations should continue. But on October 24 it told states benefits would be suspended in November, Talwani wrote.
The agriculture department and the White House Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A message posted earlier this month on the USDA website said “bottom line, the well has run dry”.
Accounting for 12 per cent of US grocery spending, Snap is also a significant source of revenue for more than 250,000 food retailers from Walmart to supermarkets and dollar stores.
“Those benefits are massively important to every single grocery in the country,” said Matt Hamory, a grocery industry consultant at AlixPartners. “Everyone depends on Snap.”
Economists said a suspension of Snap would curtail overall US consumption, with people expected to reduce food purchases and in some cases skip utility, car or rent payments to free up money for groceries.
“Given the widespread use of Snap . . . the transmission to other areas of the economy could be very significant,” said Dayanand Manoli, economics professor at Georgetown University.
The Snap programme was estimated to shrink by $187bn over the next decade as the tax and spending law Trump signed in July tightens eligibility requirements and shifts some costs to states.
“The consumer continues to navigate a tough environment — with sentiment worsening, costs continuing to rise, and Snap-related headwinds expected to intensify,” Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Kraft Heinz chief executive, said on Wednesday when the company reported results.
Supermarket chains including Albertsons and H-E-B have announced large donations to food banks in recent days, while grocery delivery service Instacart offered 50 per cent discounts for Snap beneficiaries.
But grocers are limited in the relief they can offer because federal law requires equal treatment of Snap beneficiaries and other customers, said Stephanie Johnson, vice-president of government relations at the National Grocers Association.
The agriculture department this week warned retailers they cannot offer special discounts or services to Snap users, saying to do so would be a violation, according to a notice seen by the Financial Times.
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