President Trump Vows To Withhold SNAP Benefits Until Shutdown Ends

NEW YORK CITY — President Donald Trump announced in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that he would be withholding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits until the government shutdown ends.

Trump said benefits will be only given "when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly “handed” to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), the president wrote.

On Monday, the Trump administration said it would partially fund the SNAP program this month.

The administration had a Monday deadline to provide an update in federal court on whether it would resume SNAP funding. They plan to use emergency funding, $4.65 billion from a SNAP contingency fund, to cover 50 percent of eligible households' "current allotments."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to freeze payments to the program on Nov. 1 before two federal judges ordered that the Trump administration must continue to fund SNAP benefits by using contingency funds during the government shutdown last week.

The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans, costing about $8 billion per month nationally.

It's unclear at this time how quickly benefits will be restored or how much individuals will receive on their SNAP cards.

According to a report by the Hill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told grocery stores they were prohibited from offering discounts to SNAP recipients during the government shutdown.