US Supreme Court lets Trump withhold $4 bln in food aid for now

Bangkok Post Group

The U.S. Supreme Court late on Friday (November 7) allowed President Donald Trump's administration to withhold for now about $4 billion needed to fully fund a food aid program for 42 million low-income Americans this month amid the federal government shutdown. - REUTERS

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00:00President Donald Trump's administration is allowed to withhold about $4 billion needed

00:05to fully fund the food aid program known as SNAP, or food stamps, for now.

00:11The U.S. Supreme Court gave the temporary green light late on Friday in an order called an

00:16administrative stay. It gives an appeals court extra time to consider the Trump team's request

00:21to only partially fund SNAP for November amid the federal government shutdown.

00:26The stay also pauses a U.S. district judge's ruling that the administration must fully fund the program

00:33by Friday. That came after the White House said it would provide $4.65 billion in emergency funding

00:40to partially cover SNAP benefits for the month. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program costs

00:46$8.5 to $9 billion a month to support 42 million low-income Americans. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji

00:54Brown-Jackson, who is assigned to review emergency appeals, issued the stay. She said the appeals

01:00court was expected to make a decision soon and set the stay to expire two days after the decision.

01:07SNAP benefits lapsed at the start of the month for the first time in the program's 60-year history.

01:13Recipients have turned to already strained food pantries and made sacrifices like foregoing

01:19medications to stretch tight budgets. The benefits are paid monthly to eligible Americans whose income

01:25is less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line. The maximum monthly benefit for the 2026 fiscal year

01:32is $298 for a one-person household and $546 for a two-person household.

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