The White House is pushing back hard after yet another activist judge decided to play policymaker. On Thursday, the administration asked a federal appeals court to step in and block a ruling that would force it to pay out full Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during what’s now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
In his ruling, Judge Jack McConnell — a Rhode Island Obama appointee — rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to temporarily cover 65% of benefits while the shutdown drags on. Instead, he demanded that the government come up with the full amount, ignoring fiscal reality and effectively ordering the executive branch to print money it doesn’t have since, you know, the Constitution grants Congress and Congress alone the authority to pass spending bills.
The USDA has a $5 billion contingency fund precisely for emergencies like the Schumer Shutdown — but that still falls billions short of the $8.5 to $9 billion needed for a full payout. Now the administration is being forced to “find” the difference somewhere else, courtesy of another overreaching court ruling.
The Trump administration is arguing, correctly, in its filings that the “crisis” at hand “can only be solved by congressional action.”
“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,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote in the filing. “There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions.”
Senate Democrats have now shot down the continuing resolution fourteen times — fourteen chances to reopen the government, and fourteen refusals.
Meanwhile, the administration is arguing — correctly — that the courts have zero constitutional authority to appropriate funds. By ordering the executive branch to spend money Congress hasn’t approved, activist judges are trampling all over the Constitution’s clear language.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” the Trump administration’s lawyers continued. “Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend. Courts are charged with enforcing the law, but the law is explicit that SNAP benefits are subject to available appropriations.”
The long and short of it is this: Democrats engineer a shutdown, then their allied groups run to left–wing judges tie the administration’s hands while they then feign outrage when the money runs out. It’s a cycle of dysfunction that’s become the Left’s favorite political weapon — and working Americans are the ones stuck dealing with the fallout. Pathetic.
