A United States federal court judge has ordered that paused food aid benefits be reinstated and resumed in full by Monday.
The ruling comes from Chief Judge John J. McConnell, who ordered the Trump administration to resume the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food aid program (SNAP), after announcing that the aid would not be paid for all of November.
The announcement came last week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), saying they had no choice but to pause SNAP for November as funds were too depleted amidst the ongoing federal shutdown.
Two lawsuits have been filed to block the suspension, one of which resulted in the ruling from McConnell, who said it would otherwise cause “irreparable harm”.
He said that the administration must resume SNAP payments by next Monday in full, or partial payments by Wednesday, and criticised the decision not to use the US$5.25 billion USDA contingency fund already.
"There is no question that the congressionally approved contingency funds must be used now because of the shutdown; in fact, the President during his first term issued guidance indicating that these contingency funds are available if SNAP funds lapse due to a government shutdown," McConnell wrote in his order.
SNAP offers reloadable debit cards to low-income persons across the U.S., which are topped up on the first of each month, and can only be used for food-related purchases.
There are 41 million people dependent on the program nationwide, according to the USDA.
