WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court said Friday that the Trump administration does not have to immediately pay SNAP food benefits defunded during the government shutdown, a temporary order that leaves millions in limbo.
A lower court this week ruled that President Donald Trump’s government must fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for November by the end of the day Friday.
It ordered the administration to use contingency funds to make a multi-billion-dollar payment to states so they could distribute food stamps to around 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP to afford groceries.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the so-called administrative stay that pauses the process and gives the court system additional time to consider the administration’s request.
Earlier Friday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed to the court saying only Congress had the power to resolve the crisis.
“The core power of Congress is that of the purse, while the Executive is tasked with allocating limited resources across competing priorities,” the DOJ wrote.
But a lower court “took the current shutdown as effective license to declare a federal bankruptcy and appoint itself the trustee, charged with picking winners and losers among those seeking some part of the limited pool of remaining federal funds.”
US government agencies have been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30, and the pain has been mounting as welfare programs hang in the balance.
The Supreme Court ruling comes even as the federal government has made efforts to dole out the necessary payments to states.
Democratic officials have expressed frustration with the Supreme Court stay and Trump’s move to halt the SNAP funding.
“It’s disgraceful that the administration chose to go to court instead of fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has clashed repeatedly with Trump, posted on X.
Supreme Court pauses order requiring Trump fund food benefits
https://arab.news/9m8jk
Supreme Court pauses order requiring Trump fund food benefits
- Trump administration does not have to immediately pay SNAP food benefits defunded during the government shutdown
- US government agencies have been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30
US abstains in UN vote voicing support for Ukraine
- The resolution also called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and “comprehensive, just and lasting peace“
- The US delegation had pressed for a separate vote on paragraphs involving Ukraine’s territorial integrity and international law but this idea was rejected
UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly voiced support for Ukraine Tuesday on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with the United States among countries abstaining from the vote.
The assembly passed a resolution saying it was committed to “the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”
It passed by a tally of 107 countries in favor, 12 against and 51 abstentions, which included the United States.
The resolution also called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and “comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”
The US delegation had pressed for a separate vote on paragraphs involving Ukraine’s territorial integrity and international law but this idea was rejected.
The transition from Joe Biden to Donald Trump in the White House last year has seen firm, unconditional US support for Ukraine cool dramatically.
Trump has brought Russian leader Vladimir Putin back in from the diplomatic cold and Washington has repeatedly refused to condemn the Russian invasion of 2022.
US deputy ambassador Tammy Bruce said she welcomed the UN appeal for a ceasefire.
But she said the resolution includes “language that is likely to distract” from diplomatic efforts to end the war rather than support them. She did not identify these words.
Still, leaders of the G7 global powers, including Trump, on Tuesday reaffirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine” in a statement on the fourth anniversary of the invasion.
A month after Trump returned to power in January 2025, the United States voted against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a “just and lasting peace” to end the war.
The US delegation later won Security Council passage of a Russian-backed resolution that called for peace but made no mention of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, frustrating Ukraine’s European allies.
Until then, the council had failed to speak out on the war because Russia consistently used its veto power.
“Despite peace efforts led by the US and supported by Europe, Russia continues to demonstrate no genuine willingness to stop this aggression,” Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said.
Russia’s deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva answered, saying Ukraine should focus on diplomacy to end the war “rather than initiating yet another politicized vote.”
In Washington, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishyna urged the Trump administration to intensify pressure on Russia.
“We hope that the US government this particular day... will get to the understanding that the language which is understood by Russians is not the dialog or diplomatic effort, it’s the pressure,” Stefanishyna told reporters.
She expressed hope that US lawmakers would soon pass a bill imposing tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries doing business with Russia in order to choke its economy and ability to finance the war.
Stefanishyna added that Ukraine is in desperate need of air defenses at a time when Russia has been intensifying its attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure during a brutal winter.
While acknowledging that “it’s too premature to speak about any settlement in the nearest period of time,” she said that any deal to end the war must include powerful US and EU Security guarantees.
