The $30 million that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pledged to offset losses in federal SNAP funding will go out as promised, even though two court rulings issued Friday direct the Trump administration to tap a contingency fund to pay out some of those benefits.
“Because I have zero confidence in the Trump administration to release these SNAP funds by tomorrow, or even early next week, New Mexico will keep its promise to deliver $30 million in state-funded benefits to those who qualify on Saturday. This will ensure that New Mexicans will be able to keep food on their tables for the next 10 days, regardless of the federal government shutdown or the Trump administration’s inaction,” Lujan Grisham stated in a press release on Friday.
Earlier in the week, Lujan Grisham announced that the Healthcare Authority will distribute $30 million on Nov. 1 onto the EBT cards of the 559,500 New Mexicans who depend on the federal anti-hunger program, using state emergency funds.
Lujan Grisham’s statement came just hours after U.S. District Judge James McConnell Jr of Rhode Island ruled that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must use its $5 billion contingency fund to pay out the benefit. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwan of Massachusetts also ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully in suspending the funding, but held off on whether to grant the Temporary Restraining Order. Given that the allocation of full SNAP benefits amounts to $9 billion, she ordered the administration to notify the court by Monday if they plan to pay out a portion of SNAP benefits using only the contingency fund or if they will opt to use the contingency fund and transfers from other areas to pay out the full benefits.
In a social media post on Friday evening, Trump wrote that he wants more clarity from the courts on “how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”
The USDA warned states in early October not to process claims for November because the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution that appropriated money for the benefits and would have kept the government funded through November 22.
Plaintiffs in both lawsuits, as well as congressional Democrats, argued that the Trump administration could still pay out the benefits using the contingency fund and using its authority to transfer dollars from other programs to make the payments, and that SNAP benefits were never halted in past shutdowns.
However, the Trump administration insisted they lacked the authority to use the contingency funds for monthly payments during federal funding lapses, claiming the money is reserved for assistance for victims of natural disasters.