US judge blocks Trump administration from suspending food aid benefits

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Food sits in a box of free groceries for residents at a food pantry run by La Colaborativa, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S., March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

By Nate Raymond

A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from suspending all food aid for millions of Americans amid the ongoing government shutdown and directed it to use contingency funds to pay for the benefits.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of cities, nonprofits and a union that argued the U.S. Department of Agriculture's suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP or food stamps, starting Saturday was unlawful.

He ruled from the bench minutes after another judge in Boston ruled that suspension was likely unlawful in a related case pursued by a coalition of Democratic-led states that also sought to avert the suspension.

"There is no doubt and it is beyond argument that irreparable harm will begin to occur if it hasn't already occurred in the terror it has caused some people about the availability of funding for food, for their family," McConnell said during a virtual hearing.

The USDA has said insufficient funds exist to pay full benefits to 42 million low-income Americans, as they cost $8.5 billion to $9 billion per month. The Trump administration contends the agency lacks authority to pay them until Congress passes a spending bill ending a government shutdown that began October 1.

The plaintiffs, represented by the liberal legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, argued the agency's decision to suspend benefits was wrong and unlawful, as the USDA still had funds available to fulfill its obligation to pay SNAP benefits.

Such available funding includes $5.25 billion in contingency funds that Congress has previously provided the USDA for use when "necessary to carry out program operations," the plaintiffs said.

Aside from the contingency funds, the plaintiffs argued that a separate fund with around $23 billion in it could also be utilized to avoid what would be an unprecedented suspension of SNAP benefits.

 (Reporting by Nate Raymond; editing by Noeleen Walder, Rami Ayyub and Deepa Babington // REUTERS)