Here’s how the government shutdown is affecting SNAP benefits in Central GA скачать в хорошем качестве

Here’s how the government shutdown is affecting SNAP benefits in Central GA

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — A federal judge in Boston on Thursday seemed skeptical of the Trump’s 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 by 25 Democratic-led states to keep the funding flowing, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani told lawyers that if the government can’t afford to cover the cost, 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 then-President Barack Obama. Talwani said she expects to issue a ruling later Thursday and seemed to be leaning toward requiring the government to put billions of dollars in emergency funds toward SNAP. That, she said, is her interpretation of what Congress intended when an agency’s funding runs out. “If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.” Talwani acknowledged that even ordering emergency funds to pay for SNAP might still be painful for some SNAP recipients because it could mean they get less money and that the money they do get could be delayed. “We are dealing with a reality that absent a 100% win for you, the benefits aren’t going to be there on Nov. 1,” she told the plaintiffs. The hearing came two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can’t continue funding it due to the shutdown. Other lawsuits have been filed over the program’s suspension, including one filed Thursday in Rhode Island by a coalition of eight cities and community, business and union organizations. SNAP, which costs about $8 billion per month, 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 own funds to keep versions of the program going.