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Have to assume that the move by the Trump administration, which is demanding that states “immediately undo” any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits, is going to put the kibosh on Glenn Youngkin’s rare effort to do the right thing. “The U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture an administrative stay of the orders issued by the District Court of Rhode Island. Pending any explicit direction to the contrary from Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), States must not transmit full benefits insurance files to EBT processors,” the USDA wrote in a letter to regional SNAP directors that went out on Saturday, warning them to cease and desist distributing any food benefits the Trumpers consider “unauthorized.” In case you were wondering, the cruelty has always been the point on this. Forty-two million Americans rely on SNAP benefits to be able to put food on the table, including more than 800,000 people in Virginia, where Youngkin, the lame-duck MAGA governor here, has committed the state to ensuring that our SNAP recipients receive a weekly comparable state-supported emergency food assistance payment based upon existing eligibility for the SNAP program. ICYMI Youngkin political stunt will at least keep SNAP families from starving Let’s refer back to the quote from Youngkin in the press release that his office put out on Oct. 28 announcing the move. “The dereliction of duty on the part of our federal Democrat senators is creating a crisis for the most needy Virginians. It is an extraordinary step for Virginia to provide food benefits in seven-day increments in November, but we must do so because congressional Democrats are putting politics above people,” said Youngkin, in a hot taek that didn’t age well, considering. You know, that it’s not “federal Democrat senators” or “congressional Democrats” sending memos to states telling them to cease and desist on paying full SNAP benefits to people who are otherwise going to go without food.
