US President Donald Trump has appeared to issue a lifeline for low-income Americans reliant on food aid, saying he does not want them to “go hungry” a day before some 42 million people could lose their monthly assistance.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump said “Government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme benefits once funding expires on November 1 during the ongoing Government shutdown, but added that he has instructed them to “clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible”.
A federal judge in Rhode Island gave the programme a temporary reprieve earlier on Friday (local time), ordering the White House to use emergency funds to pay for food stamps during the shutdown, in a case brought by charities and other groups.
But the administration has been arguing it cannot legally tap that fund, and it was not immediately clear, despite the ruling, whether Americans would get their weekend SNAP payments.
Since partisan gridlock sent the US Government into shutdown October 1, many federal workers have gone without pay cheques and millions of Americans are increasingly caught in the crossfire of a lack of basic federal services.
Now entering its second month, the federal shutdown has morphed into a slow-motion implosion of public services and a growing economic convulsion.
While Republicans and Democrats continue to blame each other, without immediate intervention millions of Americans will begin feeling the full force of the shutdown for the first time this weekend.
CNN reported that it asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins if she would comply with a judge’s order to release the money and she responded: “We’re looking at all the options.”
At the heart of the congressional standoff is the expiration of insurance subsidies that make healthcare affordable for more than 20 million people. Premiums are expected to skyrocket when the new sign-up period opens on Saturday.
Democrats refuse to reopen the Government without a deal to extend the subsidies but Trump’s Republicans say they won’t talk until the lights are back on.
WIC – the food aid programme for pregnant women, new mothers and infants – is also on the brink, while “Head Start” programmes that provide nutrition and family support to 65,000 infants could begin shuttering from Saturday.
With uncertainty over food stamps giving Americans heartburn, communities have begun banding together to help vulnerable neighbours.
Kerry Chausmer, 55, from Bethesda in Maryland, said she was buying groceries for two local families in need – at a personal cost likely to top US$200.
“I think that you can judge a culture by how they help the people that need it most... We’re failing, and I am honestly despondent and embarrassed to be an American,” she told AFP.
The administration says it has scraped together enough money to cover Friday’s payday for active-duty troops, but acknowledges they could go unpaid by mid-November.
And US air travel was beginning to suffer badly, with New York area airports John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia all under restrictions due in part to reduced staffing at control towers.
A ground stop was in effect at JFK until mid-afternoon, with delays clocking in at 60 to 100 minutes. Delays above three hours were expected at Newark while some passengers were bracing to be held up by as much as five hours at LaGuardia.
Trump, whose shadow hangs over every Republican move, has largely stayed out of the shutdown fight, although lawmakers on both sides hope he’ll swoop in to broker a deal on the health care subsidies.
He repeated his pledge to sit down with Democrats over their demands – but only after the shutdown is over.
“We’ll meet very quickly, but they have to open up the country,” he told reporters. “It’s their fault. Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”
– Agence France-Presse