HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday the Trump administration is distributing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
She explained during an afternoon press conference that the Agriculture Department is complying with court orders to use emergency funds to run the program.
“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 some time to receive this money.”
Federal district courts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the Department of Agriculture must use contingency funds to run SNAP and distribute benefits. A reporter had asked Leavitt whether the administration was funding the program or violating the court orders, noting that President Donald Trump said Tuesday morning no benefits were being released. Trump wrote in a social media post that the benefits would only be distributed when the government reopens.
“The Department of Agriculture, as for the latest SNAP payment and the judge’s order, put out guidance to states today on how to get that money to the recipients of SNAP, but it’s gonna take some time,” Leavitt clarified. “The best way to get the full amount of SNAP benefits to those beneficiaries is for Democrats to reopen the government.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday morning that the department gave guidance on SNAP to states and was standing by for technical support. She noted in an X post that the situation was “cumbersome,” involving modified program eligibility and state notification procedures.
“Challenges caused by Senate Democrats’ refusal to reopen the government. Another vote is this morning. NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO DO THE RIGHT THING!” Brooke wrote. “If the government opens, families get their FULL benefit much more quickly.”
The secretary’s comments were similar to those from Leavitt, who said Democrats have forced the administration into an “untenable position.”
Democratic senators have repeatedly rejected a bill supported by Republicans that would fund the government. They say it doesn’t address their healthcare concerns and have asked Republicans to fund certain things, like SNAP, while negotiations on an overall appropriations bill continue.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed during a speech on Monday that the administration was using Americans as “political pawns” by “dangling the threat of hunger over their heads.”
“Providing partial benefits is not enough, is not compliant with the law, and it’s particularly cruel of Trump with the Thanksgiving season around the corner,” he said. “Let me say this: providing partial SNAP benefits is a floor and cannot be a ceiling.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has urged Democrats to vote to reopen the government so that SNAP can continue running.
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