US Officials Ask Court to Keep Food Aid on Hold Despite Deal (1)

The Trump administration urged the US Supreme Court to keep $4 billion in food aid for low-income families on hold until Congress approves a bill to re-open the government.

The filing came Monday as the Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would end the budget impasse and provide full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for its 42 million recipients.

The disputed money is on hold through Tuesday night under an order issued Friday by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her order paused two rulings by a federal district judge in Rhode Island requiring full funding for the so-called SNAP program, not just the partial funding the Department of Agriculture had promised.

In a court filing Monday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the high court that letting the district judge’s orders take effect — and allowing full SNAP benefits — would risk upending the deal Republicans struck with a handful of Democrats to let the government re-open.

“Congress appears to be on the brink of breaking the deadlock, though that outcome is unsure,” argued Sauer, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer. “The district court’s unlawful orders risk upsetting that compromise and throwing into doubt how innumerable critical federal programs will be funded.”

Democrats have said the Trump administration has been withholding the funds in order to pressure them to drop their demands for health-care cuts and vote for a stopgap bill.

Shutdown Votes

While the shutdown deal cleared a key test vote Sunday night, there are still multiple opportunities for Democrats to filibuster it before the Senate reaches a final passage vote. The test vote succeeded with the bare minimum 60 votes needed, meaning if any one of the eight Democratic caucus members who supported the bill switched positions, it could be blocked.

Such a flip is unlikely at this stage, however, as the lawmakers have already taken the political heat for defying party leaders and the Democratic base to reopen the government despite no concrete Obamacare concession from Republicans.

Sauer’s filing is part of a flurry of activity over SNAP, which has been caught in the middle of the budget impasse. A different federal judge in Boston on Monday paused an administration memo that told states to “immediately undo” any action taken to fully fund November food-aid benefits. At least 10 states had taken steps to make benefits available to some or all eligible residents at the full-funding level before Jackson issued her order Friday, according to court filings.

During a hearing on Monday in the lawsuit filed in Boston by a group of states and the District of Columbia, US District Judge Indira Talwani faulted the administration for its handling of the situation in recent days.

“What you have right now is confusion of the agency’s own making,” Talwani said.

A Justice Department lawyer told Talwani that once a new spending measure passed, it would take the Agriculture Department 24 hours to make the full November benefits available.

Talwani said she was considering entering a separate order as a precaution to ensure that the states have the same legal protections as those covered by the Rhode Island judge’s orders if the Supreme Court allows those to take effect.

The Department of Agriculture and other US agencies have argued that the government right now doesn’t have enough money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November. The administration contends that courts are powerless to review its management of the shutdown, including its decision to reduce food aid.

US District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island said last week that the administration’s offer of partial payments was inadequate because the complexities of that approach would delay distribution of the money. “The evidence shows that people will go hungry,” McConnell said.

The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday night refused to pause McConnell’s order while litigation continues. That decision effectively kicked the matter back to the Supreme Court.

Under the so-called administrative stay issued by Jackson Friday night, McConnell’s ruling will remain on hold for 48 hours after the 1st Circuit ruling — or until just before midnight Tuesday night — unless the Supreme Court intervenes again.

The core question is whether the Department of Agriculture must use available reserves, including money from child nutrition programs, to avoid a SNAP shortfall. The government says tapping those programs would put them at risk, an assertion McConnell called “implausible.”

The administration is being sued by groups including the Rhode Island State Council of Churches.

The Supreme Court case is Rollins v. Rhode Island State Council of Churches, 25a539.

(Updated with details from a hearing in the Massachusetts litigation on Monday.)

--With assistance from Zoe Tillman and Erik Wasson.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

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