- The Supreme Court extended until Thursday night a pause in a judge’s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for November.
- About 42 million Americans get food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- The Trump administration originally said it planned not to pay any SNAP benefits as the U.S. government shutdown persisted, but now says it wants to pay 65% of the full benefits.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended until late Thursday night a pause in a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for November.
The two-day delay, which was objected to by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, gives Congress time to pass a short-term funding bill that would reopen the U.S. government, which has been shut down since Oct. 1, and fund the SNAP program that provides 42 million Americans with food stamps.
The Trump administration had argued in a filing Monday with the Supreme Court that the tangled legal dispute over the benefits could soon be rendered moot by Congress passing that bill this week.
If the bill is approved, and SNAP benefits start flowing as normal, that would remove the justification for lawsuits demanding that they continue during the shutdown.
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