By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

The Supreme Court said Friday that the Trump administration could withhold a partial payment for the federal food benefits program amid the longest-ever government shutdown.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, provides federally funded food benefits to 42 million low-income families each month. Benefits started to run dry when Congress failed to pass bills funding the government.

The Supreme Court stepped in late Friday to stay the lower court’s order that required payments by midnight.

Earlier in the day, attorneys for the administration said Congress needed to fix the problem.

“This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” they wrote on Friday. “Instead, a single district judge has devised his own solution: ordering USDA to cover the SNAP shortfall by transferring billions of dollars that were appropriated for different, equally critical food-security programs – and to do so within just one business day (i.e., by today). This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers.”

Attorneys for the federal government added: “Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend.” They further argued the lower court had exceeded its authority with the order to fully fund the SNAP program.

“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” the attorneys argued.

The appeal raises questions for those who depend on the food benefits program, which is administered by the states. It drew criticism from Democrats and others.

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-Minn., said the Trump administration has the money to fund the program.

“As we’ve said from the beginning, the Trump administration has the money and the power to fully fund SNAP in November. They chose to ignore the harm caused by their actions and cut benefits instead,” Craig said. “It is truly shocking and demoralizing just how far President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have gone to take food out of the mouths of American children, seniors, working parents, veterans and people with disabilities.”

Trump has used Department of War research funds to continue paying military members, but warned that the money will run out.

Crystal FitzSimons, president of Food Research & Action Center, called the situation “abhorrent.”

“Instead of using the funding that has been readily available to feed people, this administration continues to fight to deny tens of millions from accessing the nutrition they need,” FitzSimons said in a statement.