White House: Will pay out food stamps

TT

Published 19.17

 

Millions of Americans are in need of food stamps to make ends meet. Archive photo. Photo: Allison Dinner/AP/TT

The Trump administration will pay out food stamps using reserve funds, it was announced on Monday.

The decision comes after two courts ruled that the stamps must be paid out despite the ongoing shutdown.

As a result of a blocked budget, the US government has been shut down for more than a month, which meant that funding for the federal program that pays out food stamps to the needy – who make up just over 12 percent of the entire US population – expired on Saturday.

Last week, however, two federal judges in Boston and Rhode Island announced that the government must continue to fund the program.

Now the government says the payments will be financed through a reserve fund. But how much money recipients will receive is unclear – the fund is worth the equivalent of 44 billion kronor, which is only enough to cover about half of the amounts normally paid out.

It is also unclear when the money might reach those in need, with payments for November already delayed for millions of people.