"The Justice Department said in the filing that court orders enforcing food stamp funding have created "massively inappropriate" obstacles, complicating SNAP benefit distribution and efforts to end the shutdown."
"What they're saying: "Once more, the government unequivocally agrees that any lapse in SNAP funding is tragic," Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the filing. "But it is a tragedy of Congress's creation, by shutting the government down, allowing appropriations to lapse, and creating a Hobson's choice for the Executive Branch on how to triage which crucial programs get limited available residual funds.""
"Sauer added that the USDA undertook an "unprecedented" effort to fund SNAP using the available contingency funds and to create a partial payment process that had "never been done before" and called the court order requiring benefits to be paid in full "untenable.""
Charities and cities sued to force federal funding of SNAP nutritional benefits, with the government required to respond by 8 a.m. ET Tuesday. The Justice Department argued that court orders enforcing full food stamp funding have created "massively inappropriate" obstacles and complicated SNAP distribution and shutdown resolution. The filing characterized lapses in appropriations as a Congress-created tragedy that forces the Executive Branch to triage limited funds. The USDA implemented contingency and partial-payment measures described as unprecedented. A Rhode Island judge ordered full payments, a Supreme Court justice temporarily paused that order, and the First Circuit rejected an emergency administration stay.
Read at Axios
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