A day after the USDA said it would tap contingency funds to partially cover SNAP benefits, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that funding “will be given only” once the government shutdown ends “and not before.”
As millions of consumers and retailers wait to see when SNAP benefits will return, Trump’s post indicated that funding for the program won’t resume until the government shutdown ends.
A few hours later, though, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing that the Trump administration is complying with court orders for the USDA to tap emergency funds to help fund SNAP.
“We are getting the payments out the door as quickly as we can,” Leavitt said, adding that the USDA has sent guidance to states on the plan.
Leavitt said that Trump’s post was referring to “future” SNAP payments.
“He does not want to have to keep tapping into an emergency fund [and] depleting it. In the case of a catastrophe in this country, he wants to have those funds preserved as they should be, and he's made it very clear Democrats should reopen the government,” Leavitt said.
The suspension of SNAP benefits started Saturday after federal funding ran out for the program due to the ongoing government shutdown, marking the first time that SNAP benefits have lapsed.
Last week, two lawsuits attempted to lift the SNAP benefits suspension. Two federal judges on Friday separately ordered the USDA to reinstate SNAP benefits. Patrick A. Penn, deputy undersecretary for the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, the USDA agency responsible for SNAP, said in a court filing on Monday that the USDA would deplete a contingency fund worth $4.65 billion to cover SNAP — about half of the approximately $8 billion that the government spends monthly on the program.
The conflicting messages on Tuesday added to the chaos that consumers and retailers are grappling with as they wait to see how the federal government will move forward with SNAP. Trump’s post also highlights the important role the food assistance program, which approximately 42 million people participate in, is playing as Republicans and Democrats point fingers at each other over who’s responsible for the ongoing shutdown.
A notice on the USDA’s website says, in part, that “Senate Democrats have voted 14 times against reopening the government. This comprises not only SNAP, but farm programs, food inspection, animal and plant disease protection, rural development, and protecting federal lands.”
On Monday, Senate Republicans objected to a Democratic-led attempt to pass a resolution via unanimous consent that would have forced the USDA to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, The Guardian reported.
“Trump is using food as a weapon against children, families, and seniors to enact his ‘Make Americans Hungry Agenda,’” Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a statement on Monday as part of a group of 46 Senate Democrats calling on Senate Republicans to force the Trump administration to use Congressionally approved funding for food assistance programs.
