Judges Tell Trump Admin to Use Contingency Funds to Partially Cover SNAP
“Here, Congress appropriated $6 billion to SNAP in 2024as a contingency reserve through 2026, ‘to be used in such amounts and at such times as may become necessary to carry out program operations.’”
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to cover SNAP benefits starting tomorrow.
The administration said it could not use the $5 billion contingency fund.
The Democrat officials who challenged the administration claimed the Agriculture Department (USDA) has a “separate fund with around $23 billion” that it could use for SNAP.
However, US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston did not grant a temporary restraining order. It “remains under advisement.”
Talwani gave the Trump administration until Monday to tell her if it “will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November and, if so, their timeline for determining whether to authorize only reduced SNAP benefits using the Contingency Funds or to authorize full SNAP benefits using both the Contingency Funds and additional available funds.”
But, from Talwani’s opinion, it sounds like she will grant the TRO if the administration says it won’t take action.
“With this statutory and regulatory context, Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that Congress intended the funding of SNAP benefits, at a reduced rate if necessary, when appropriated funds prove insufficient,” wrote Talwani. “Here, Congress appropriated $6 billion to SNAP in 2024as a contingency reserve through 2026, ‘to be used in such amounts and at such times as may become necessary to carry out program operations.’”
Talwani said that the Agriculture Department (USDA) can use the funds towards SNAP benefits as the shutdown continues:
Plaintiffs are therefore likely to succeed on the merits of their claimunder 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A), (C), that Defendants’ suspension of SNAP benefits is contrary to law. Moreover, as Plaintiffs note, in addition to the contingency funds, there are additional funds that Defendants would have discretion to access. Under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, “Congress has set forth a mandatory, and permanent, appropriation that stems from 30% of customs receipts on all imports from the prior calendar year.” Defendant’s Opp’n 5 [Doc. No. 18]. Much of this funding is appropriated for the Child Nutrition Program, but USDA has the authority pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 2257 to authorize transfers of such funds discretionarily. Id. Indeed, USDA has done so recently to transfer funds to the WIC program.Accordingly, Defendants may also consider relying on these discretionary funds to fund the remaining SNAP shortfall.
I cannot find the order from US District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island because not enough people have attached it, even though they quote from it!
Ugh.
Anyway.
According to CNN, McConnell said: “There is no doubt that the … contingency funds are appropriated funds that are without a doubt necessary to carry out the program’s operation. The shutdown of the government through funding doesn’t do away with SNAP, it just does away with the funding of it.”
McConnell blasted the administration over claims the USDA can only use the funds “for hurricanes or other uncontrollable catastrophes.”
“SNAP benefits have never, until now, been terminated,” McConnell said, as reported by The Hill. “And the United States has in fact admitted that the contingency funds are appropriately used during a shutdown and that occurred in 2019.”
McConnell also told the USDA to provide him with an update by Monday.
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Comments
Three Federal judges were stranded alone in the Sahara desert with no water. They imposed a TRO on the desert demanding that it produce the water “immediately”.
Bad optics for Dems to have THEIR cities burning over THEIR not voting. Note the Blue-ness of the judges giving shade to their Party….but what’s new…
MA judge is an Obama judge.
To think I used to be in favor of importing talent from India. What could go wrong? Boy was I wrong. Stupid move. Yeah right impose people from another insular culture that never fully assimilates. For those keeping score I feel the same about Jews who behave as if they were still living in a Eastern European ghetto with better appliances and 500 cable channels with nothing on them.
This judge was US born. Doesn’t matter though.
Now judges think they can direct how federal monies are spent.
Also for the record I don’t think this is a bad idea. Trump admin should have thought of it and not left it to a judge. Bad look for everyone not to fund SNAP although the program needs to be changed. It is abused like everything else but there are people that need it.
I disagree. You make the babies, you feed the babies. Go after Daddy-Man. Baby Momma needs to work.
If these slaves need the government to feed their kids, and their kids will die of starvation if the government doesn’t write the checks, the we already have Socialism. And the slaves to the government have sold themselves into submission.
No. Absolutely NO ONE should expect the taxpayer to feed their kids to prevent starvation.
No!
My sympathy for these ‘single mothers’ went out the window when I saw pieces of crap with 4 kids from 4 different fathers, not a single one supporting them.
Stop subsidizing this insane antisocietal behavior. NOTHING good comes out of allowing these ‘families’ to exist.
the expectation and pride of generational welfare is a huge problem.
no child that attends a public school is going to go hungry. They have free breakfast, free lunch, sack lunches to take home for the weekend. The adults in the household may go hungry, and no one will have extras to sell on the black market, but CHILDREN will not go hungry.
WHAT?!!!!?!??!??!!!!!!
Are you saying that the left is lying to us about kids starving?
The nerve!!!!!
How about this? Rather than judges issuing TROs, run for a legislative office, introduce legislation, pass the legislation and then you are free to pursue enforcement.
Crickets. Thought so.
Again, I have it on good authority that because the federal government is shut down the federal judiciary is not fully funded. It’s operations are severely curtailed, and is no longer able to act as the chief executive of the executive branch, and instead must default to a duly elected potus to serve as chief executive.
Apparently, severely curtailed is not severely enough…
Some back of the envelope math. USDA has $6 Billion emergency fund. There’s about 42 million SNAP beneficiaries who receive an average of $188 per month. That’s about $8 billion per month to fully fund SNAP. So the $6 Billion emergency fund would pay roughly 75% or 22.5 days of average benefits.
Seems like a logical thing to do to pay it out…Except for questions like to whom and how much? Just pay everyone? SNAP is also based on total household income and # in the household under 22. Do we prioritize household beneficiaries with children? If so do we exclude ‘adult children’ from the calculation? How about disabled receiving SSDI? What about disabled Veterans? Then there’s the very real issue of a Judge directing the Executive to perform an act that the Executive has discretion to choose to do or not as they see fit. Pure policy questions are supposed to be resolved politically not judicially.
The Judiciary telling the Executive to ‘pay someone something’ to burn through the $6 Billion reserve is not enough guidance…even if it was a legal order. IMO the executive gets to decide what is/is not an emergency for SNAP and whether to use some, all or none of the available alternatives with a contingency fund.
Given the drama and clever Propaganda to force the WH into a position to say ‘we don’t have to pay out food benefits to kids, disabled, elderly’ then the WH should Judo this back onto the Judge. Hand deliver the data I sketched out above in detail and tell them to resolve the questions about who to pay, who not to pay when and for how long. Then present that to the WH for execution. No more ‘hot potato’ from District Judges. Alternatively refuse to act outside the specific District b/c a District judge isn’t supposed to issuing nationwide orders.
Dammit Chief
Every time I come here an think I’m making an original statement, I read your missives and realize that you are one step ahead! Again!
Meh. This one took a while to show up and at least least you kindly referred to it as a missive v a deranged diatribe or screeching screed.
I’m retired, bored and it was cold here today (for South Alabama in fall) so I have more time than most to post and to think about the post v in between real life stress of jobs/kids/school.
I have a deep respect for your comments Chief.
Too bad I don’t have a big enough post space to name all of the people here that have educated me over the years.
And yes, Milhouse, that certainly includes you. Unfortunately, there are times when I enjoy being a troll.
Thanks. I appreciate the compliment. There’s a lot of commenters here, especially the regulars, who have a broad swath of collective knowledge and experience and I greatly enjoy reading and benefiting from their insights. Milhouse is a good dude, just a little bit pedantic at times but usually he’s correct and has my respect for his knowledge ability to convey his points and most important IMO he operates in good faith.
There’s always people complaining about some of the military being on food stamps.
Use the emergency fund to only cover those costs.
Watch judges’ heads explode.
Sure, though the Military Service Members themselves ain’t on food stamps. They get a barracks room, 3 meals a day plus health care and a fitness program. If married they get on base housing or rent $ to cover off base apartment (BAH basic allowance for housing).
The sob stories come, most often, from JR enlisted making bad life choices. Some PFC knocks up his stripper girlfriend who already has two kids by her ex baby daddy, gets married, move into base housing or an off post apartment. They get BAH but in that scenario it’s gonna be tough to feed, clothe a wife, two kids and new baby and have any extra luxury items on what a PFC brings in. Especially if the stripper wife has champagne tastes on a beer budget.
My starter wife applied for food stamps and WIC when I was an E3 many moons ago.
I told her that she had to work instead of demanding the taxpayer subsidize our decision to have a child.
I generally worked nights, so I would take care of our son during the day while she worked. There were loads of jobs on and off the base where she could work.
She got pissed that I expected her to work, packed up her stuff and left with the kid. She didn’t like me being in the military anyway, and demanded that I give two weeks notice to get out.
Result. She had to work anyway to support herself, and I had to pay child support. Of course, child support for a guy who was paid only $300 take home twice a month wasn’t a lot.
But at least she couldn’t claim food stamps anymore.
“IMO the executive gets to decide what is/is not an emergency for SNAP and whether to use some, all or none of the available alternatives with a contingency fund.”
Note that one judge remarked that the fund was used during a government shutdown in 2019. It was POTUS Trump who made the decision to release those funds then. The judge thinks this set a precedent that now requires Trump to do exactly the same thing now. The administration should reply, “The fact these funds were used in 2019 at the discretion of the executive does not create binding precedent that the decision is applicable at all times and under all circumstances. It set the precedent that the decision is the executive’s to make.”
Yep. 2019 ain’t 2025. Different years, different facts but the discretion of the Executive to deploy contingency funds or not hasn’t changed.
It seems the WH did go back and ask the Judge for more information, clarity and specifics re the order asking for ‘appropriate legal direction’ from the Judge signaling they’ll use the $5.2 Billion (not $6 Billion) contingency fund but need clarity between the two different rulings by two different District Court Judges on exactly what they are being ordered to do.
Not satisfied with claiming executive authority, the judiciary has declared it has budgetary authority as well.
LI readers may not know of the Rumpelstiltskin Clause in the Constitution. At the command of some hack judge, Democrat of course, straw can be spun into gold and Frito corn chips.
I love fritos but haven’t had one since covid days. Too expensive. Inflation pushed them out of my reach. That and diverting corn to gasohol.
they only have authority if someone complies with their orders,…”He made his ruling, now let him enforce it!”
Hasn’t happened yet. Dammit!
“I am the king! If you don’t do what I tell you, I can’t be king anymore!”
(I forget the source. Anyone know?)
Well it’s easy enough to solve this one —
1) are these really contingency funds that have been authorized by Congress for use when regular funding is not available?
2) if #1 is ‘yes’, what are the rules by which the funds can be used, and what conditions must be present?
You’d think a careful read of the law would answer this one way or the other.
What is in the law says is a moot point since #Resistance Federal judges have no intention of obeying the Constitution or the law if it gets in the way of what they want.
What does the law have to do with lawfare. It’s all about TDS.
I suspect that Congress didn’t set an automatic trigger for use of.these funds and instead leaving it up the discretion of the Executive for how, when, how much or even whether to use them at all.
When discretion and judgment is the mechanism by which any law is made operative, said discretion and judgment should be the executive’s exclusively, unless Congress also grants a role to the courts. Courts should stay in their lane, and reserve their opinions to questions of constitutionality, and not interfere in situations that allow discretion and judgment. A POTUS is elected to perform these functions. When a judge performs these functions he’s acting anti-democratically
I agree, whenever there exists purposeful ambiguity b/c Congress didn’t dictate to the Executive ‘who, what, when, where, why, how’ or even more so when there’s no specific trigger that X must follow from a specific event or circumstances then the presumption must be that Congress decided to leave it up to the discretion of the Executive. The check and balance is at the next election where the political party of the Executive can be voted out in the HoR/Senate or the Executive could be voted out.
“Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds”
Clearly, we don’t really need a president at all. Just have the
CommissionerCommissar illuminate the RobeSignal and a blue state judge will swoop in to save the day.I went to Jr Hi and high school with a future federal judge. He was a horse’s ass in school, sas a horse’s ass on the bench , and a bigger one after retirement. He expected us to address him as Judge [surname] or Yiur Honorcst high school reunions.
His imperious behavior toward all of us and his down the nose looks he gave to those who were not at his social position we’re disgusting.
I’ve found quite a number of kids that no one liked in high school managed to get into positions where they could take it out on everyone in an endless revenge tour. Town Manager was one. Head of the Roads Commission was another. Not someone that would kiss their ring then tough on you.
Oh, this one had friends, but I think his family’s wealth had something to do with it. Maybe not so much friends as hangers-on.
Our bullies and loudmouths all seemed to end up the same place, The Los Angeles Police Department.
Remixes me of a guy I went to Military College with…dude literally got fragged by one of his troops while staging in Kuwait to go into Iraq. Guy rolled a grenade into his tent in the middle of the night. Didn’t kill him but his Infantry career was over, so he went to Law School and became a JAG.
My question: did he deserve it?
Given my experience with him and his ‘I can do no wrong + smarter and better looking than everyone else demeanor’…..let’s say I wasn’t surprised to hear about it.
I went to college with a Chinese guy whose first name was Hon. It was incredible the swanky invitations he used to receive, unsolicited.
OT
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/31/politics/elections/maine-graham-platner-national-finance-director-resigns-ronald-holmes-iii/
Graham Platner’s national finance director has resigned
Nutty Nancy said the president doesn’t control the purse strings. So the social engineer need to tell his party to step up.
I don’t disagree with Nancy, but the concept “Congress controls the purse strings” has been developed so that it applies far beyond what the Constitution actually says (and doesn’t say).
Congress appropriates, but the Constitution is silent when it comes to spending, except for limiting the POTUS to expending funds that have been appropriated by Congress. I interpret this to mean that spending is an executive function.
Congress appropriates
The POTUS spends
By limiting appropriations, Congress can prevent the POTUS from spending
By deciding what portion of appropriations are spent, the POTUS prevents Congress from wasting
Ok. I’ll bite.
“Congress appropriated $6 billion to SNAP in 2024as a contingency reserve through 2026”
There are 40 million people who are receiving SNAP benefits.
6,000,000,000 $$$
40,000,000 recipients
Let’s do some government maff
$60,000,000,000/40,000,000
= $1,500 per person
That’s not gonna last long.
More important. The government is shut down. Who is gonna write the checks?
Why, the judge will pay it out of his pocket.
Hell, we already know autopen can write checks. I assume we will soon be assigning one to all federal judges.
My solution: sell all of the oil in the SPR. The world is ending in a few years anyway.
That might be government math but in real math, it’s $150 per recipient and it will only be paid once, leaving the contingency fund empty through 2026.
I am glad that you noticed the government maff part of it.
“Don’t spend it all in one dispensary.”
The judges can go screw themselves. They have no authority to order the spending of funds.
SCOTUS agrees with your astute analysis,…Trump v. CASA,
Separation of powers doesn’t seem to exist for these federal judges, so why can’t Trump find a judge who will order Congress to pass a budget like the Constitution requires them to do?
because Trump lacks the balls
Indeed Trump does NOT lack balls.
But sometimes he gets distracted swinging them at the wrong targets.
Huh?! Where on earth do you think the constitution requires Congress to pass a budget?! In any case, this isn’t the budget, which is just a joint resolution; this is the appropriations bill, but again, where in the constitution do you think it says Congress has to pass it? Congress doesn’t have to pass anything if it doesn’t want to.
The only cities that are going to burn if th slaves decide to riot, only those living in democrat enclaves without 2A protection will be robbed, and the buildings burned will be in Democrat controlled areas.
So… why do we care?
I read some post where someone said that if we are Christians, we should be feeding he poor.
Yes, we should. Through charity, not government robbery.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s…
Even Christ didn’t mandate that the government take care of the poor.
There is no “collective poor,” only poor individuals who are deserving or not.
If the people feel a poor person is deserving, forced charity is unnecessary.
If the people feel a poor person is not deserving, forced charity is undemocratic.
Indeed, those people who are Christians should do that. The United States of America is not Christian. The constitution explicitly says so. So does the first treaty the USA signed with Morocco. And Democrats scream blue murder at any suggestion that the USA is or ought to be Christian. So admonishing it based on the doctrines of some religion it doesn’t subscribe to seems pretty useless.
What part of “no article III Constitutional Authority “ are these tyrannical black robed insurgents not understanding?
Congress has appropriated the money that the judges are telling the administration to spend. It’s not as cut and dried as you are suggesting.
Defund the judges by telling them their salary was taken to pay for snap.
Unlike his predecessors, Trump will comply with the law.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5584184-trump-snap-benefits-government-shutdown/
.
Sounds like Trump is laying a SNAP Trap for busybody judges.
He’ll do what they say… as long as their fingerprints are on it.
Then when something (he’s not talking about) hits the fan, it will be All Their Fault.
I can’t wait
This is the judo opportunity I mentioned originally. Very smart to pass the ‘hot potato’ back to the meddling Judiciary by in essence telling them ‘sure we’ll use the insufficient contingency funds just tell us who to pay, how much and if any category of beneficiaries are deemed more or less deserving in priority for payment’.
Doesn’t this give the executive a reason to pressure congress into ending the government shutdown. Even if it means the (so called) nuclear option to do so, this in order to allow compliance with court orders in the face of Democrat’s obstruction?
No. The order only applies to expenditure of the existing ‘contingency funds’. The Judge can’t order the Executive to spend funds that haven’t yet been appropriated by Congress. That runs headlong into the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution; ‘No funds shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriation made by law’. Not to mention the problem with separation of powers and Executive Branch discretion on how/if to use the funds.
The pretend lawyer will defend this decision.
It’s funny how these federal judges feel comfortable ordering the government to fund welfare benefits under a government shutdown but they won’t order the government to pay the military or federal workers who are still expected to come into work. This is why our system doesn’t allow robed tyrants to replace the executive and the legislative branches.
In reply, Trump’s team requested that the judge who ordered the payments to be specific about compliance details.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-rules-trumps-attempt-suspend-snap-funding-unlawful/story?id=127069497
“Citing the lack of a public recording or transcript of Friday’s emergency hearing, DOJ lawyers asked McConnell to confirm the parameters of his decision to ensure they comply.”
Think of a junior serviceman asking his superior to put a dodgy order into writing, not just verbal where, should things go Tango Uniform as a result of following the order, the superior could claim that their “clear intent” (which often isn’t clear at all) was misunderstood by the junior member, and thus wasn’t the superior’s fault.
A single mom said that people were mad that she got $3,000 a month in food stamps.
A TikTok user known as @blackbeauty_235 shared her circumstances with the world on the video-sharing app.
“Okay, y’all just mad because I get $3K in food stamps. So what?” she stated in one video. “I get all kind of snacks while I’m sitting here chilling or whatever.”
or
https://nypost.com/2025/10/28/us-news/tiktokkers-boast-theyll-start-stealing-food-if-snap-benefits-dry-up-amid-gov-shutdown/
etc etc
You should see what section 8 pays in Manhattan, it’s wild. Have a few kids and your subsidized rent is more than the national average income.
“Wha-eva! I ran for congress and WON. Then I had sex with an intern, killed
her, and hid her body. Wha-eva! I’ll do what I want!”
If the administration has the legal ability to use the money, they should use it. I have become pretty conservative, but food is an exception. At this point, America can feed every American, There are some fraud issues with SNAP, but now is not the time to try to solve them.
Incidentally, I put my effort and money where my mouth is. I bake a dozen loaves a bread a week for the local food bank and grow a few hundred pounds of produce for them every summer. My bread output is now going to go to 24 loaves a week, and maybe higher.
Food is probably the last unreconstructed liberal view of mine. SNAP needs reforms, but no one in this country should go hungry even if I otherwise despise them.
I absolutely disagree.
There is no reason that anyone has a claim to my labor to feed their kids. Period. End of story.
I forego many extras in my life so that I could afford to feed my kids and provide for them.
Yet I see many EBT users buying items that I choose to forego, because I believe they are luxuries that I shouldn’t spend money on.
But back to my main point. I donate money to charity, to food banks, to United Way, to churches because I DECIDED to do that.
Yet you want the government to hold a gun to my head to give money for food to someone who is able to work.
So YOU continue to do you, but YOU have no decision in telling me that I have ti give my money to anyone.
Fucking liberals.
Furthermore, the proof is in the pudding. The government is not equipped to handle feeding people.
Why? Because the government is NOW telling people it is OK that there kids starve babies they can’t get their way.