White House seeks to block full SNAP payments

A judge had given the Trump administration till Friday to disburse benefits via program.

- BY DAVID A. LIEB, MICHAEL CASEY, SCOTT BAUER AND MIKE CATALINI

SNAP and EBT signs are seen at a grocery store last week in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

(MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO Getty Images)

President Trump’s administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to block a judge’s order that it distribute November's full monthly SNAP food benefits amid a U.S. government shutdown, even as at least some states said they were moving quickly to get the money to people.

The judge gave the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

But the administration asked the appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.

The court filing came even as the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a memo to states that it’s working to make funds available Friday for full monthly SNAP benefits.

Officials in California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin confirmed that some SNAP recipients already have been issued their full November payments.

"Food benefits are now beginning to flow back to California families," Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

In Wisconsin, more than $104 million of monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic cards for about 337,000 households, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said.

The state was able to access the federal money so quickly by submitting a request to its electronic benefit card vendor to process the SNAP payments within hours of a Thursday court order to provide full benefits.

Some other states did the same, and yet others said Friday that they were waiting for federal guidance.