Nov. 4 (UPI) — After saying earlier Tuesday that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will not be distributed until the federal government is funded and reopened, the President Donald Trump administration reversed course again by “clarifying” that the payments would go out to needy families.
Two federal judges on Friday ordered the Trump administration to access contingency funds and distribute SNAP benefits despite the lack of funding for the federal government.
President Donald Trump on Saturday said his administration would do so, but he changed course Tuesday morning and said SNAP benefits will not be distributed until the federal government is funded again.
“SNAP benefits, which increased by billions and billions of dollars during crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office, will be given only when radical-left Democrats open up the government and not before!” Trump said Tuesday in a Truth Social post.
Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was talking about future SNAP payments.
“The administration is fully complying with the court order. I just spoke to the president about it” Leavitt said. “The recipients of these SNAP benefits need to understand it’s going to take time to receive this money because the Democrats have forced the administration into a very untenable position.”
The post by Trump caused lawmakers to scramble to learn next steps, said four people with knowledge of the matter to Politico.
“We are getting the payments out the door as quickly as we can. USDA sent the guidance to the states,” Leavitt said. “The president is 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.”
U.S. District Court of Rhode Island Judge John McConnell Jr. on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP benefits no later than Wednesday, which the president initially agreed to do.
McConnell ordered the Trump administration to apprise him of efforts to fund SNAP, but White House officials on Monday said doing so would create an “unacceptable risk,” The Hill reported.
A contingency fund for SNAP benefits has about $4.65 billion, which is slightly more than half of the $9 billion spent monthly to provide SNAP benefits for about 42 million recipients.
Administration officials on Monday told McConnell that half of the cost of SNAP benefits would be covered for November, but the president’s post on Tuesday changed course, according to CNBC.
Holding up the matter is an insistence by Congressional Democrats that a continuing resolution also include an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of the year, plus expanded Medicaid funding.
Congressional Republicans say they are willing to negotiate with Democrats on those matters, but only in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
The Senate on Tuesday again failed to gain the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule and approve the funding resolution.
Instead, the measure was supported by a simple majority, 54-44, which was the 14th vote on the bill.
Senate Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, along with independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, for the 14th time, were the only members of the Senate Democratic Party Caucus to support passage of the funding measure.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only dissenting vote among Senate Republicans for the 14th time.
Congressional leaders did not immediately respond to questions from UPI as to whether House and Senate members are continuing to negotiate a Fiscal Year 2026 budget or if all efforts are focused only on trying to pass a continuing resolution.
The House-approved continuing resolution favored by most GOP members of Congress would fund the federal government through Nov. 21, which is a little more than two weeks from Tuesday.
A continuing resolution introduced by Senate Democrats would have funded the federal government through Oct. 31 and no longer would be in effect.
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