The Trump administration has instructed states that they must “immediately undo any steps” that were taken to provide full SNAP benefits to low-income Americans, saying states were “unauthorized.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a late-night Saturday memo obtained by CBS News, also threatened to impose financial penalties on states that did not comply with the government’s new orders.
The Trump administration initially said last month that it would not fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November because of the ongoing government shutdown. The twists and turns since have exacerbated uncertainty for the nearly 1 in 8 Americans who receive monthly SNAP benefits to spend at grocery stores and farmers’ markets.
On Friday, some states began issuing full monthly SNAP benefits to people, a day after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide the funds.
But Friday night, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused that judicial order to give an appeals court in Boston time to decide whether to issue a more lasting halt. Jackson acted because she handles emergency matters from Massachusetts.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said there is no clarity from the government on funding SNAP benefits over the last several days.
“There is a chaos and it is an intentional chaos that we are seeing from this administration and where they have money for everything,” Moore said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “They got money to fight wars. They got money for ballrooms. They got money for everything but when it’s to supporting the people, that’s now when they are crying, well, we are broke and that’s not what the law requires us to do.”
CBS News has reached out to the White House and the Department of Agriculture for additional comments on the new guidance.
Nearly 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, for help buying groceries. Most have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $32,000 for a family of four.
An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.
The delay in payments has led to a surge in demand at food banks and pantries across the country, as well as long lines for free meals or drive-thru giveaways.
Some states have provided emergency funding to food banks to help them respond to the increased need. Some states also used their own dollars to fund direct payments to people while the federal benefits were in limbo.
The New York Times first reported on the USDA’s memo.