Court Rejects Trump Effort to Cut Food Stamps
A federal judge on Sunday rejected a Trump administration plan to cut $5.5 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next five years. The proposed rule change would allow the Department of Agriculture to restrict states’ abilities to waive work requirements for food stamp beneficiaries in areas facing severe economic distress – a move that could remove 700,000 people from the nutrition assistance program.
In what The Washington Post called a “scathing” opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell said the administration had failed to justify the effect the changes would have on thousands of food stamp recipients – a failure made worse by the growing importance of the program amid the coronavirus pandemic.
