This story appeared in The Logoff, a day by day e-newsletter that helps you keep knowledgeable concerning the Trump administration with out letting political information take over your life. Subscribe right here.
Welcome to The Logoff: The standing of pressing meals help is as soon as once more up within the air after President Donald Trump weighed in on Tuesday.
What occurred? On Tuesday morning, Trump posted on Reality Social that “SNAP BENEFITS … will likely be given solely when the Radical Left Democrats open up authorities.”
If correct, the president’s choice to disclaim meals help to hundreds of thousands of People could be in direct battle with a court docket order and statements by his personal administration, which stated yesterday it might draw on billions of {dollars} in contingency funds to offer partial Supplemental Diet Help Program, or SNAP, advantages for November.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently instructed reporters that, opposite to Trump’s put up, “the administration is absolutely complying with the court docket order” — however with SNAP advantages at the moment unavailable after an interruption over the weekend, it could be a while till we all know for positive.
What’s the context? The Trump administration isn’t speculated to have a alternative in whether or not it supplies a minimum of some SNAP advantages this month, following an order by a federal choose in Rhode Island final week. Nevertheless, it has opted to not faucet further, voluntary funding sources to offer the total quantity to beneficiaries.
Why does this matter? As a rule, the Logoff tries to cowl solely concrete, significant actions by the Trump administration. Generally the Trump administration’s inside back-and-forth is simply noise, and nothing finally comes of it — however that is a kind of occasions the place the phrases do matter.
Meals advantages have already lapsed, and it’s unclear once they’ll resume. At greatest, Trump’s feedback merely deepen the uncertainty that hundreds of thousands of People, a lot of them kids, are feeling about when they may subsequent obtain very important meals help. At worst, they imply Trump is actively trying to make use of SNAP advantages as a political cudgel, harming People in hopes his political opponents will cave.
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
The Minimize collected a listing of the way to assist households whose SNAP advantages are in jeopardy, which yow will discover right here. Alternatively and on a lighter word, you would possibly get pleasure from this reflection from Defector on a superb however heartbreaking MLB playoffs and the way the Dodgers — now back-to-back champions — made it occur. Thanks for studying and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!
