Trump asks Supreme Court to let him block some food stamp payments

The Trump administration rushed to the Supreme Court Friday night asking the justices to put on hold lower court action that ordered the government to pay out full food stamp benefits amid the government shutdown.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer said to pay the full benefits will require taking money from other programs such as school lunches, and he said that’s an untenable position to put the government in.

He urged the justices to grant an immediate hold, saying otherwise the government will send billions of dollars out the door that it can’t get back even if it prevails in future court action.

Mr. Sauer said some states, which pay out the benefits funded by federal cash, are already gaming the system by rushing a whole month’s worth of payments to their beneficiaries, trying to get in line before any more court action.

He said that’s a recipe for disaster.

“If allowed to stand, this decision will metastasize and sow further shutdown chaos. Every beneficiary of a federal program could run into court, point to an agency’s general discretion to prioritize funding, and claim that failing to prioritize their chosen program was arbitrary and capricious,” he warned the justices.

The case arose after the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, sapped the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of funding. It made October payments but lacked money to pay food stamps in November.

States and advocacy groups said the administration could transfer money from other accounts, including a contingency fund that had money that wasn’t affected by the shutdown, and money in the school lunch program, which has its own source of funding.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. sided with the groups and ordered the government to use the contingency fund.

That only covered partial payments.

Then, after more argument, the judge upped the ante and ordered the government to tap other accounts such as the Child Nutrition Program, which funds the lunch program.

The administration asked a federal circuit court to block the judge’s ruling but that hasn’t happened yet, so lawyers turned to the Supreme Court.

Amid the legal wrangling the Agriculture Department, which runs food stamps, began taking steps to comply with the judge’s ruling by making more money available to states.

Some of them rushed to draw down a full month’s worth of payments as a hedge against a future court ruling.

Oregon, for example, told its food stamp recipients they’ll get a full month’s payment now even if they weren’t scheduled to get their November benefit until later in the month.

“As of this morning, Oregon families are beginning to access their full November SNAP benefits restored on their Oregon Trail Cards. This means all Oregonians receiving SNAP will have their full monthly benefit available now, regardless of their usual payment schedule,” the state said.

Mr. Sauer told the justices that’s part of the chaos they need to step in and derail.