In a page taken from Charles Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge, the Trump administration ordered states on Nov. 8 to stop distributing full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to recipients, and instead to issue partial payments of 65%. The U.S. Agriculture Department sent each state a Nov. 8 directive to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue” the full payments. This memo threatened states that any noncompliance will face consequences.
In Wisconsin the consequences include having the U.S. Treasury reject reimbursements to grocers for food purchases made with SNAP funds. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a statement that his state “legally loaded benefits to cards” on Nov. 7 when the funds were released by the federal government. A spokeswoman for Governor Evers confirmed to reporters that more than $104 million in benefits were paid to 337,000 households at midnight.
