A federal judge on Sunday annulled a government regulation chaired by Donald Trump by which almost 700,000 unemployed would have stopped receiving food stamps despite the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
The Department of Agriculture (USDA, for its acronym in English) has maintained a "cold silence" on how many people would have been denied benefits with the change of the rule, ruled Judge Beryl Howell, of the District Court of Washington DC , as revealed by court documents.
Howell ruled against the Department of Agriculture for failing to justify or even address the impact of the change in its regulations, claiming that its deficiencies have been highlighted amid the pandemic during which unemployment has quadrupled and the lists of the Program of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) has increased more than 17%, with more than 6 million new enrollees through May.
"The rule in question in this litigation radically and abruptly alters decades of regulatory practice, leaving states in a compromised situation and exponentially increasing food insecurity for tens of thousands of Americans," the judge wrote in her 67-page ruling, advanced by The Washington Post.
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The USDA announced the rule in December that hundreds of thousands of people would stop receiving food stamps as of April 1.
The change decided by the Government was going to affect people between 18 and 49 without children and who do not have disabilities.
At that time, Trump justified the change in the regulations arguing that thousands of Americans did not need this type of help due to the strength of the economy and low unemployment, but since the beginning of the pandemic the situation has changed radically with millions of unemployed who they have been forced to apply to food banks for help.
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In January, a coalition of attorneys general from 19 states, New York City and the District of Columbia appealed the USDA rule.
The plaintiffs argued that the rule would not push low-income people into employment.
"At a time of national crisis, this decision is a common sense victory," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
"This rule would accomplish the opposite, making those people who already worry about ending their days hungry even more vulnerable," said James, "and since we are in the middle of a pandemic, the effects of this rule would be more destructive. never".
In March, Judge Howell issued a preliminary court order suspending part of the rule arguing food needs amid the pandemic, just the same day that Trump declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency.
The government then suspended its implementation date scheduled for April.
The USDA in May appealed that ruling on the rule that in 2019 provided coupons redeemable for food to 36 million people.
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Under current law, people can qualify for
food stamps
if they work at least 20 hours a week for more than three months and for a period of at least three years.
However, each state has the power to eliminate this time limit and thus guarantee thousands of people access to food stamps during the ups and downs of job reintegration.
The new government rule provided that states have a maximum unemployment rate of 6% to be exempt from that limitation.
With it, the Administration would save 5.5 billion in five years, as calculated by the Department of Agriculture.
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This is the first of three changes to the SNAP program proposed by the Trump Administration that could cause millions of people to lose access to food stamps.
The other two are intended to change the way 40 states automatically include families in SNAP when they get other forms of federal aid and deductions for housing and utility costs.
An Urban Institute study indicated that the combined impact of these rules would remove 3.7 million people from SNAP in an average month.
Benefits would be reduced for millions more and 982,000 students would lose automatic access to free or reduced-price school meals.
With information from NBC News and The Washington Post