WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that food assistance benefits for the poor will be given out only when the federal government shutdown ends, despite a court order requiring his administration to make payments by Wednesday.
SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
A 35-day stalemate on government funding between majority Republicans and Democrats in Congress has compromised benefits for nearly 7 million low-income Americans.
A federal court in Rhode Island on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to make full food aid benefit payments by Monday, or partial payments by Wednesday, while acknowledging the “irreparable harm” that exists without their timely payment.
The Trump administration on Monday made $450 million in tariff revenue available for a childhood nutrition program imperiled by the federal government shutdown, according to federal funding records.
But it said in a court filing that it will not draw on the pool for the $4 billion required to fully fund November SNAP benefits.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Franklin Paul)
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