Judge blocks Trump plan to cut food stamps for 700,000 adults
A judge on Sunday struck down the Trump administration's efforts to make it more difficult for some adults to receive food stamps. In a 67-page opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of D.C. condemned the administration for failing to consider how the rule would impact an estimated hundreds of thousands of Americans during the pandemic.
The ruling comes after a year-long effort from the Trump administration to trim the number of people who rely on food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. When the Trump administration initially proposed its new rules for limiting access to the program, the U.S. was enjoying record low unemployment and a strong economy.
But the coronavirus pandemic has upended the once-growing economy and pushed millions of Americans into joblessness. Almost 25 million adults are currently claiming unemployment benefits, and the jobless rate stood at 7.9% in September, more than double the 3.5% rate in February. Despite the rise in unemployment and hardship, the Trump administration had pressed forward in May with its efforts to trim the food stamp program.
In her ruling, Howell said the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, had remained "icily silent" on how many people would have been impacted by the rule change "while the pandemic rapidly spread across the country." She added that enrollment in food stamps had surged by 17%, or almost 6 million additional recipients, through May.
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