November payments have been significantly delayed, forcing families to go hungry. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to distribute benefits in full by Friday.
Haley is one of more than 40 million people across the country who count on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal benefit that dates back to the late 1930s. But disruptions to SNAP, also known as food stamps, during what has become the longest government shutdown in American history have left recipients facing imminent hunger, unable to restock their pantries or refrigerators.
Although the Trump administration said partial funds would be distributed this month — a response to a lawsuit challenging its plan to suspend SNAP payments during the shutdown — recipients who were due to receive their benefits this week have empty balances.
On Thursday, the federal judge in that lawsuit ordered the Trump administration to distribute SNAP funding in full to states by Friday, though it remains to be seen whether recipients’ electronic benefits cards will be refilled that quickly. Previously, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had said it could take several weeks to deliver the benefits.
I’ve been thinking about almost the same thing a lot lately
Specifically the impact and ethics of donating to support private assistance programs. I worry that donating to things like St. Jude’s is just reinforcing the status quo. Similarly, if I’m donating to support food shelves now, would that be reinforcing the idea that government benefits, like SNAP, are unnecessary? Would I be reinforcing the idea that government doesn’t work?
By and large, poorer people that need a social safety net tend to vote Republicans into office. Is the negative impact of conservative policies obfuscated by private support temporarily plugging the gaps?
Healthcare especially. The US has a fundamentally inefficient healthcare system, but most people don’t realize how inefficient it is because the costs are spread around so much. The fact employers pay much of the premiums makes people forget that the premiums are actually absurdly expensive. Same story with ACA subsidies. Most people couldn’t afford ACA without the subsidies. Rather than racking up more debt, I feel like we need to fix our inefficient system first. We lack the political will to do so though, since most people don’t understand how expensive health insurance actually is