It’s just as I feared. As I wrote yesterday, SNAP beneficiaries could see funds on their cards by Wednesday. That’s looking to be a reality as moments ago, the Trump administration told a judge moments ago that contingency funds will be used to pay partial benefits, which means that people will still get a little food stamp/EBT money. The response to the judge’s order is online.
I am disappointed that the administration will not file an appeal and will not request a stay. I was looking forward to seeing social media posts whining about being hungry and not being able to feed their kids. The good news is that partial payments are still a bad thing for people as any reduction in benefits will cause them harm. Mikey likes harm!
The good news is that the government cannot come up with enough money to pay out full benefits. They have nearly $5 billion to work with, but would need a total of $8 billion to make full payouts happen. I would rather see people starving themselves and their children throughout November and even December, but you know what? I’ll take what I can get.
In today’s filing, the government stated:
“The Court ordered that USDA could ‘make the full [November] payment of SNAP funds by using Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds and other unspecified funds, and if USDA chose this option, the Court ordered that this payment must be made “by the end of the day Monday, November 4 [sic], 2025.”
It appears, then, that the government has chosen to not pay out full benefits, as millions of lazy people had hoped, so they will push out partial benefits. But the work is just beginning! The states have to come up with special tables (formulas) that determine how much each SNAP household will get. That will take time, and it appears that states are expected to do that at a break-neck speed. Is such a thing even possible to do in a matter of hours?
I can tell you that people who run the SNAP program in their individual states are hard at work right this second to gather the data, make calculations and then send those results up the chain. No one will be leaving work on time today and all because millions of people want to make you pay for their food rather than working for said food themselves.
What I can say is that the notion of payments being made by close of business today is absolutely unrealistic. It simply will not happen that fast given all the steps that need to be taken in order to actually get benefits onto cards. Could it happen tomorrow? Possibly. Wednesday, as the court demanded? That’s a more realistic outcome, though people will still be whining on TikTok about being the victim and being starved.
As can be expected, there is some conflicting information. Most sources are reporting that payments must be made by Wednesday, but ABC News is reporting that it will actually take weeks to get funds to cards. That is the amount of time that it usually takes. If this ends up being true, then I will be a happy blogger as I can post TikToks and articles mocking those who will starve over the course of a week or two rather than a few days.
The only question now, therefore, is when funds will actually show up on the cards. Updates on that will likely emerge this evening. I expect that a lot of people will be working through the night to make all of this happen.
It may sound easy to grab the funds, wire it to the states and get the funds out to the vendors who will then actually put the funds on cards, but even in 2025, there’s still a process, and I don’t think the judge truly understand that. I think that giving the government, states and vendors two weeks would still be reasonable.
I don’t believe that November or December payments should be paid out. Not while the government is closed. Let people figure out their own food problems. It’s not my job to feed the hungry, even if it’s a child who is starving. As I write this, I have enough food to sustain me for up to three weeks. I did that on my own and without help from the government. I can technically feed others, but I won’t.
It’s weird, but even in a nice neighborhood such as mine, there are people who are on SNAP. Given that there are no projects here, I find that shocking. This morning, a neighbor knocked on my door, begging for food for her and her two-year-old daughter. Yes, I have enough food to share with them and still keep myself fed, but I told her to go get a job and closed the door in their faces. I laughed as I went and got myself a snack.
I am not required to feed the hungry. Let the hungry people feed themselves. And oh, yes, after what I did to those two, guess how much sleep I will lose? None!
I have an idea: let’s abolish the SNAP program altogether and make the lazy people who use SNAP and therefore abuse taxpayer funds by, you know, work for their food, just like in centuries past. If we drop the program, then billions of dollars will be saved every month. Just think of the things that could be done with that kind of money!