U.S District Judge John McConnell ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to pay millions of American poor people money owed to them by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) “as soon as possible,” reports NBC News:
U.S District Judge John McConnell’s ruling from the bench came shortly after another federal judge in a separate case said that the Trump administration’s plan not to pay out SNAP benefits beginning on Nov. 1 due to the ongoing federal government shutdown was “unlawful” but stopped short of ordering the Trump administration to disburse funds.
However, the Trump administration is stalling on following Judge McConnell’s order by falsely claiming they are not sure they have the legal authority to pay SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, notes ABC News. Trump himself announced the delay tactic on his social media site, Truth Social:
Our Government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available, and now two Courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do.
If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.