MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP food benefits for November.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
These will only be partial payments for the supplemental nutrition, and it may take a while to get the money out.
MARTIN: 91ÖÆƬ³§'s Jennifer Ludden is here to tell us more. Good morning, Jennifer.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the administration to pay for SNAP after the benefits ran out during this government shutdown. Why won't they pay the full amount that people are eligible for?
LUDDEN: Because they're tapping a contingency fund that has about $4.5 billion. And that's only half the amount of SNAP benefits people get each month. Also, this is why it's going to take longer for people to get the money. States administer SNAP, and they're going to have to reprogram their systems to issue these partial payments. And in a court filing Monday, an Agriculture Department official noted that some state processing systems are decades old. He estimated it could take some places weeks, if not months, for SNAP recipients to get their November benefits.
MARTIN: States, cities, some nonprofits all sued over cutting off SNAP benefits. They filed lawsuits in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Any reaction from these litigants?
LUDDEN: Yes. You know, they are glad the administration will pay people something, even if it's what one critic called the bare minimum. But they say it's not enough, especially since, as they point out, two federal judges also said the administration could legally tap a much bigger pot of money. And that would allow full SNAP payments with plenty left over. Now, the administration chose not to do it. An Agriculture Department official again questioned the legality of using that extra money and argued that shifting it could hurt child nutrition programs.
MARTIN: So where does this leave the millions of people who are still missing that monthly food benefit?
LUDDEN: It leaves a lot of people very worried. Some are very fearful. 91ÖÆƬ³§ spoke with Shalisse Hooks (ph). She is a widow in Phoenix. She's unemployed and has a 15-year-old son.
SHALISSE HOOKS: You know, and it's hard because he's in high school, and when he comes home, he's hungry. It's OK, Mom. Like, no, it's not OK. So he's basically going to school to eat breakfast and lunch.
LUDDEN: You know, Hooks says she's even had these desperate thoughts of stealing meat, you know, milk, cereal for her son. Though, obviously, she does not want to do that, she says. Plus, what if she ended up in jail, he was on his own? So of course, food banks are stepping up. We have cities and some states trying to fill this gap. Local officials just worry about a ripple effect the longer this goes on. You know, could people face eviction if they can't pay rent or health problems if they're not eating well? And one more thing to note. The administration says because it's using up this contingency fund, there will be no money to sign up any new people for SNAP in November.
MARTIN: And this sort of invites the question here - what happens with SNAP if this shutdown lasts past November?
LUDDEN: Right. Right. I mean, if this money is gone - the administration, if it still declined to shift other money - we could be right back to people getting zero benefits and maybe right back in the courts.
MARTIN: That is 91ÖÆƬ³§'s Jennifer Ludden. Jennifer, thank you.
LUDDEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by 91ÖÆƬ³§, Copyright 91ÖÆƬ³§.
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