The Trump administration is revising its maximum allotments for SNAP beneficiaries amid the government shutdown after admitting it made an “error” in its calculations.
Those who receive the federal aid, also known as food stamps, will now receive 65 percent of their benefits this month, up from the administration’s previously estimated 50 percent.
Officials at the Department of Agriculture acknowledged the “error” in their calculations and “worked to issue new guidance and tables as soon as it was discovered,” lawyers for the Department of Justice said in court filings late Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) also confirmed in a statement that maximum SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) allotments are being reduced by 35 percent, not the originally announced 50 percent.
More than 40 million Americans rely on food stamps and continue to face uncertainty amid the ongoing government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history.
Donald Trump fueled confusion and panic earlier this week after suggesting he would defy court orders requiring the government to continue partially funding SNAP during the shutdown through emergency contingency measures.
In a typically unhinged Truth Social post on Monday, Trump wrote that SNAP benefits would only be paid “when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was forced to walk back the remarks, telling reporters on Tuesday the administration is “fully complying” with the Rhode Island federal court order, while also warning that “it’s going to take some time to receive this money.”
Under the original 50 percent benefit guideline, a family of four in the 48 contiguous states would have received up to $497 for the month, roughly half the non-government shutdown maximum of $994.
The revised 65 percent figure now means the same family will receive approximately $646.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned Monday that it may take weeks for the partial payments to arrive, while continuing to blame Democrats for the shutdown.
“Senate Democrats need to quit the games, quit holding American families hostage to ridiculous demands like health care for illegals, and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT,” Rollins wrote. “Once they do, FULL benefits can get to families without delay.”
