A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to pay out the full food stamp benefit this month, rejecting the government’s claim that it only has the money to pay out part of the benefits amid the government shutdown.
Judge John McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee, scolded the administration and ordered the full benefits to go out by Friday.
The administration quickly filed an appeal.
Judge McConnell suggested the administration was playing games with the benefit, saying that making a partial payout would lead to lengthy delays in many states.
He found the government’s logic that it would have to siphon money from other programs, such as the school lunch program, unavailing.
“People have gone without for too long,” he said.
He also chided President Trump for a comment this week suggesting he wouldn’t pay benefits until the shutdown ended.
The White House had walked back that remark, saying the administration was complying with the court’s order and insisting Mr. Trump meant he wouldn’t pay extra benefits, but Judge McConnell wasn’t swayed.
He is one of two judges who have been pressuring the administration to pay the full monthly benefit to some 42 million people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Trump officials had said the shutdown defunded SNAP, so they couldn’t pay any benefits.
Judge McConnell said the law allowed for a transfer from a contingency fund, which covered at least half of the benefit, and he ordered that to happen. He also prodded the administration to see whether it could shift money from the Child Nutrition Program.
The administration accepted the prod to use the contingency money but rejected the other transfer, saying that the money needs to remain available.
The shutdown — now the longest in U.S. history — began Oct. 1 when Congress was unable to agree on new funding bills.
The government had been operating largely under levels set in 2024, when President Biden was still in office and Democrats controlled the Senate.
The House has repeatedly passed a bill to keep the government open at those levels, but Senate Democrats have filibustered to block reopening the government on those terms.
Democrats insist that any bill to fund the government also extend pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies and roll back some trims to federal health program eligibility, which the GOP wrote into its Big Beautiful Bill budget law this summer.
Without new funding, there was no dedicated money to pay SNAP benefits in November. But Congress had allocated money to the contingency fund, which Judge McConnell ordered to be used.
The Child Nutrition Program, meanwhile, has dedicated money from customs duties that flow despite the shutdown.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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