On Thursday, Vice President Vance voiced strong opposition to a federal court’s decision mandating the Trump administration to disburse full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November. He criticized the court for overstepping its bounds by dictating fiscal actions during a government shutdown.

“This ruling is simply absurd,” Vance remarked during a roundtable meeting with leaders from Central Asia at the White House. “We have a federal judge essentially telling us what to do amidst a Democrat-led government shutdown.”

Vance emphasized the administration’s desire to resolve the shutdown. “Our goal is for Democrats to reopen the government. Once that’s achieved, we can fully fund SNAP and embark on other beneficial initiatives for Americans,” he stated. “During a shutdown, however, it’s unreasonable for a federal court to dictate how the president should prioritize resources.”

Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge John McConnell dismissed the administration’s proposal to issue partial SNAP payments without accessing additional funds, asserting that it did not align with his prior directive.

The Justice Department swiftly announced plans to appeal the decision, leaving millions of Americans who depend on SNAP benefits uncertain about their future financial assistance.

The Trump administration had intended to fully cut off SNAP payments for roughly 42 million Americans starting this month because of the government shutdown, which this week set a record for the longest in history. That led to two lawsuits that assert the benefits must keep flowing.

Last week, McConnell ruled the administration, at minimum, was required to deplete a roughly $5 billion SNAP contingency fund. But it was not enough to fully fund November benefits, which are expected to cost upward of $9 billion. 

The Trump administration has sought to shift around money to cover things like pay for members of the military and a nutritional program for women and infants. But it has indicated it will not be able to provide funding for SNAP, and the Department of Transportation has said it will reduce the number of flights at certain airports in light of air traffic controller shortages during the shutdown.

Vance said the White House would look to fund certain government operations amid the strain of the shutdown, but would do so “according to what we think we have to do to comply with the law, of course, but also to actually make the government work for people.”