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“Today’s ruling is a lifeline for millions of families, seniors, and veterans who depend on SNAP to put food on the table,” the coalition of plaintiffs said in a statement. “It reaffirms a fundamental principle: no administration can use hunger as a political weapon,” the coalition said. “This victory is about more than one program — it’s about the American values of fairness, compassion, and accountability that hold our democracy together.” The plaintiffs include a group of cities, charitable and faith-based non-profit groups, unions and business organizations. The Boston judge, Talwani, in her separate order on Friday, said she was still considering the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order to maintain the benefits. But she also ordered the administration to tell her by Monday if it would “authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November, and, if so, their timeline for determining whether to authorize only reduced SNAP benefits using the Contingency Funds or to authorize full SNAP benefits using both the Contingency Funds and additional available funds.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised both rulings. “Good,” Schumer wrote in a post on the social media site X. “Trump’s decision to cut off SNAP was vindictive and heartless,” Schumer wrote. “He was trying to manufacture a hunger crisis so he wouldn’t have to fix healthcare. No president in American history has cut off SNAP during a shutdown, including Trump during his own first term.” Hassett, the National Economic Council director, blasted the rulings. “We’re about to use emergency funds from the Department of Agriculture because of a liberal judge ruling that we disagree at the law on,” Hassett said in an interview on Fox News. “But then we don’t have our emergency funds in case we have a hurricane or we have an emergency -- a food emergency,” Hassett said. “And so we’ve got to get the government open. We’ve got to do it as soon as possible. And the Democrats really don’t have a plan.” The Trump administration blames Senate Democrats for the shutdown, given their refusal to vote for a short-term funding bill proposed by House Republicans, which does not include an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats insist on.
