Donald Trump reversed course and vowed to withhold food benefits for millions of people as the government shutdown entered into its 35th day.
This marked a complete reversal of his stance on Monday, after two federal judges ordered his administration to unlock emergency funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, when he softened his position. The U.S. Department of Agriculture informed the court that it would begin drawing from a contingency reserve to make partial payments to approximately 42 million low-income Americans who rely on the program to purchase groceries, according to The New York Times. The announcement followed rulings from federal judges in Boston and Rhode Island, who sided with a lawsuit led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 24 other Democratic-led states.
Judge Indira Talwani ruled Friday that the federal government must tap into the emergency fund to keep SNAP afloat. The Trump administration had previously argued the money was reserved for natural disasters and refused to release the $5 billion in reserve or use a larger fund. Trump commented over the weekend that he wanted to resume payments but claimed he didn’t know how to authorize the funds during the shutdown, now entering its second month.