The White House has asked a federal appeals court to issue an emergency block, after a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the administration would have to pay full Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) payments in full amid the longest government shutdown in United States history.
Judge Jack McConnell of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island rejected the Trump administration’s request to pay only 65 percent of SNAP benefits this month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a $5 billion contingency fund for emergencies like the Schumer Shutdown, but that amount falls short of the $8.5 to $9 billion needed to fully fund monthly SNAP payments. The Trump administration will be required to find funds to make up the difference.
The Trump administration is arguing in its filings that the "crisis" at hand "can only be solved by congressional action.”
“This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote in the filing. “There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions.”
Senate Democrats have rejected the continuing resolution 14 times. They also argued that the courts do not have the power to appropriate spending, and therefore have breached the separation of powers.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” the Trump administration's lawyers continued. “Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend. Courts are charged with enforcing the law, but the law is explicit that SNAP benefits are subject to available appropriations.”
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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