US to pay reduced food aid benefits, but warns of weeks or months delay

President Donald Trump's administration said on Monday it plans to partially fund November food benefits for millions of Americans, but warned it could take some states weeks or months to calculate and distribute the aid.



The administration laid out the Department of Agriculture's plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island after a judge ordered it on Friday to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP benefits.



But a USDA official warned in the filing that at least some states, which administer SNAP benefits, would need weeks to months to make system changes that would allow them to calculate and issue the reduced benefits.



Partial payments are unprecedented in the program's 60-year history, which provides assistance to nearly 42 million low-income Americans.