AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP food benefits. But people will only get half of their normal amount, and it could be a while before they even get that money. The government's decision comes after two federal judges ruled last week that freezing payments for the country's largest anti-hunger program is likely unlawful. NPR's Jennifer Ludden joins us now with more. Hi, Jennifer.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so this sounds like a bit of a mixed bag here. We've got some good news, some bad news for people who rely on SNAP. Like, why does the administration say it will only pay half of what people are eligible for?
LUDDEN: Because it is tapping a contingency fund that two federal judges ruled was explicitly meant for this kind of emergency.
CHANG: OK.
LUDDEN: But the administration says there's only $4 1/2 billion in there, and that's roughly half of the $8 billion in SNAP payments that go to people every month. Now, the judges had also ruled the Trump administration could legally tap a much larger source of money from customs revenues, and that would fund full SNAP payments. But the administration declined to do it. It said that could take money away from child nutrition programs. The idea of only partially funding SNAP did not please some of those who'd filed these legal challenges. And Brett Smiley, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, said, you know, this should never have taken a lawsuit in the first place.
BRETT SMILEY: And while it's a victory for decency, fairness and for every community working hard, it is not something that we should have had to do in the first place. Suspending food aid is cruel, and to threaten the stability of families who are already struggling is wrong.
LUDDEN: The head of the nonprofit Democracy Forward, which helped bring one of the lawsuits, said that group was considering all legal options to secure full payment.
CHANG: OK. Well, in the meantime, the next big question is - do we have a sense of how soon people might get even these partial payments?
LUDDEN: We do not. I will say this money - the way it goes out is complicated. It goes from the federal government to states, then through contractors onto the debit-like cards that people use to buy food. And recalculating for partial payments does take time. But in its court filing, the administration said it could be weeks, if not months, especially, it said, in some states with decades-old systems. So it leaves this possibility that people in some states might see benefits before others.
CHANG: Wow. I mean, let's just be very clear, Jennifer. You have reported that 1 out of 8 people in the U.S. rely on SNAP. That's something like 42 million people, right? Like, where does all of this leave them?
LUDDEN: It's leaving a lot of people very worried. I met some yesterday here in D.C. - the District of Columbia - in a long line that stretched down the street at Northwest Community Food Pantry. I spoke with G. Wilson. She's 64, an army veteran and disabled. She always gets her SNAP benefits at the start of the month. She said she had checked, and there was nothing on her card. And that leaves a gaping hole in her budget, she said. And you can't stretch what you don't have.
G WILSON: With the assistance of these food banks who they themselves are running out of food, we just have to budget even more. A can of beans has to be cut in half to be able to make it. You no longer can have a full serving. And with the holidays coming up, that's insane.
LUDDEN: And I should add that D.C. and a few states are using their own emergency funds to fill this gap, so it's possible G. may still get her money.
CHANG: But I want to ask you - I mean, you said that the administration is spending all of the contingency fund for these partial SNAP payments to cover just November. So what happens if this federal shutdown extends into December?
LUDDEN: That's a really good question, and hard to say. If the administration sticks to its position that there's no other money it can use, despite what two judges have ruled, we could again see this food aid disappear. And it's worth noting, you know, this is a program Republicans and President Trump have long wanted to shrink. And in fact, this summer, Republicans did pass what will be the biggest budget cuts in SNAP's history.
CHANG: That is NPR's Jennifer Ludden. Thank you, Jennifer.
LUDDEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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