Families are already making tough decisions on how to make do with less resources to purchase food, skipping meals and choosing which bills not to pay; this Administration must stop making excuses and dragging their heels and do what is legally required and right.

And now this statement is causing further chaos & suggesting the Administration still won’t do that bare minimum.

Quick recap: 2 federal judges have ruled that the Administration is required to spend a $5B+ contingency fund & they could also transfer $ to issue full benefits. USDA has already given states notice to deliver partial benefits, the bare minimum. Millions of people are waiting…

At every step this Administration has chosen to make it harder for people to get the help they need to afford food.

This scramble is the result of the Administration’s failure to follow the law, do basic planning & use all available options. Millions of children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, parents, and workers in communities across the country are paying the price.

The Administration should provide full funding and tell states to disburse full benefits. Barring a change of Admin plans or a new court order today, however, states need to take on this challenge and act swiftly to get families partial benefits quickly.

The Admin’s excuse for not transferring funds—that it would harm child nutrition (CN) programs—doesn’t hold up. Transfers don't raise overall costs or spending. There's no reason Congress couldn’t or wouldn’t ensure full CN funding, as has always happened on a bipartisan basis.

Providing full benefits would ensure that low-income families receive the full amount they need to afford groceries. Because it’s far more straightforward for states to issue full benefits, it would also mean that these families would get their benefits faster.

But this bare minimum isn’t enough. The Administration should be using its legal authority to quickly transfer additional funds to deliver full November nutrition assistance. The courts and the Administration agree that they have both the available funds and authority to do this.

They could have and should have done this weeks ago. Speedy execution is essential given that every minute of further delay means millions of families are not getting the help they need to afford enough to eat.

Reminder: This is happening at the same time some of the biggest cuts from the Republican megabill are also taking effect, meaning millions of people will soon lose SNAP benefits on a permanent basis. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

Any appeal of the decision or further delay would just underscore that the Administration is choosing to rip away vital food assistance from millions of low-income families right before the holidays. x.com/sarahnferris...

The Administration could have, and should have, taken steps weeks ago to be ready to use these funds. Instead, it chose to unlawfully hold them up in an effort to gain political advantage. www.cbpp.org/press/statem...

Families cannot afford further delays. The Administration must immediately release the contingency reserves and use their legal authority to transfer additional funds so families can get the full benefits they need to buy food as quickly as possible.

Low-income families are increasingly struggling to afford groceries & other basic needs. Rather than exacerbating the harm of the megabill’s #SNAP cuts – the deepest cuts to food assistance in history – Congress & the Trump Administration should provide relief from these policies.

CBO estimated that states facing these huge new costs would collectively reduce or eliminate SNAP benefits for another 300,000 people in a typical month. But with the megabill's policies & USDA's implementation decisions setting states up to fail, the impact could be far greater.

USDA's implementation decisions only reinforce the cost-shift's terrible incentives: under this policy, states aren't penalized if they improperly deny or delay SNAP benefits to eligible low-income people. And states' costs will be lower if fewer eligible people receive SNAP.