Sauer asserted that SNAP may only be funded using the SNAP contingency reserve, which would cover roughly half of benefits for November. He argued that McConnell’s order to use Section 32 funds to issue full SNAP benefits is unlawful.
“That unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers. The core power of Congress is that of the purse, while the Executive is tasked with allocating limited resources across competing priorities,” Sauer wrote in the petition. “But here, the court below took the current shutdown as effective license to declare a federal bankruptcy and appoint itself the trustee, charged with picking winners and losers among those seeking some part of the limited pool of remaining federal funds,” he added.
Sauer strongly criticized the district court’s ruling, calling it “untenable at every turn.” He warned, “Courts would issue unworkable and potentially conflicting injunctions, as different judges order different allocations of limited pools of money.” Sauer emphasized that such judicial intervention would allow district courts to seize the power to allocate federal agency funds as they see fit, creating a “run on the bank by way of judicial fiat during this shutdown, as litigants race to the courthouse to obtain their guarantee of federal funds before it is too late.”
Sauer urged the Supreme Court to issue a ruling quickly, noting that he is currently required to use Section 32 funding to send full SNAP benefits by tonight because of McConnell’s order.
**Judge Orders Trump Administration to Use Child Nutrition Funds to Issue Full SNAP Benefits**
“Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds—to the significant detriment of those other critical social programs whose budgets the district court ordered the government to raid,” Sauer wrote.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court/3879415/trump-asks-supreme-court-halt-order-issue-full-snap-benefits/
