Trump administration to return to Supreme Court in food stamp fight

By TONY ROMM and ABBIE VANSICKLE

The Trump administration on Monday said it would return to the Supreme Court in yet another attempt to halt full federal funding for food stamps, signifying the latest twist in a winding saga that has imperiled the nation’s largest anti-hunger program.

The administration revealed its intentions just hours after an appeals court refused to block the decision of a lower court judge, who had previously ordered the government to finance benefits completely this month for the roughly 42 million people who receive aid to buy groceries.

The move came as Congress inched closer to reopening the government, offering a glimmer of hope that lawmakers might finally put an end to the wrangling over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The program has faced extensive disruption and delay in recent weeks as a result of President Donald Trump’s refusal to fully finance the program.

If the government reopens, D. John Sauer, the solicitor general, said the administration’s emergency request to the Supreme Court would not be needed. Otherwise, he said, the government “still intends to pursue a stay” to halt the order requiring full SNAP payments.

For all of the persistent legal uncertainty, the developments Monday offered a pathway to resolving the weekslong battle waged by cities, states, religious groups and nonprofits, which have been trying to spare low-income Americans from severe financial hardship while much of Washington remains largely inoperative.

Despite having ample funds in reserve, the Trump administration has refused to supply the money required to help roughly 1 in 8 Americans purchase groceries. Its position has offered a stark contrast with the other ways Trump has rearranged the budget during the shutdown, including his work to reprogram billions of dollars to pay the officers conducting mass deportations.

In doing so, the Trump administration has even sought to threaten and penalize some states that have tried to furnish benefits to residents in full. At one point over the weekend, the government demanded that these states needed to immediately “undo” that work and threatened them with financial punishment if they did not, prompting a broad outcry.

On Monday, a judge in Massachusetts granted a request by more than two dozen states to temporarily block the federal government from carrying out that directive. Before a hearing in that case, scheduled for later Monday, many state officials sharply rebuked the Trump administration for continuing the fight. They said the decision to appeal — on a day when the Senate was making progress on a funding deal — was especially punitive and harmful.