As the government shutdown reaches unprecedented lengths, the Trump administration has announced plans to distribute partial food stamp benefits this month, according to statements made to a federal judge on Monday.

In a significant development last Friday, two federal judges mandated that the Trump administration must fully deplete a $5.25 billion emergency fund before any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits can be enacted. This decision impacts more than 40 million Americans who rely on these benefits.

Despite this intervention, the emergency fund falls short of the $9 billion required to meet the entire November benefits demand. The judges suggested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could potentially tap into alternative funding sources to cover this shortfall.

However, the latest updates reveal that the Trump administration will not pursue this route, labeling it as an “unacceptable risk.”

Patrick Penn, who oversees the SNAP program at the USDA, clarified the administration’s stance in a sworn statement on Monday, asserting, “Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds are not a contingency fund for SNAP.” This declaration underscores the administration’s decision to avoid using funds from other nutritional programs as a stopgap solution.

“Using billions of dollars from Child Nutrition for SNAP would leave an unprecedented gap in Child Nutrition funding that Congress has never had to fill with annual appropriations, and USDA cannot predict what Congress will do under these circumstances,” he continued. 

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