https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5594443-vance-pushes-back-snap/

Vice President Vance on Thursday pushed back on a federal court ruling that directed the Trump administration to make full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments for November, arguing the court should not be telling the president how to spend money during a government shutdown.

“It’s an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the middle of a Democrat government shutdown,” Vance said during a roundtable with Central Asian leaders at the White House.

“What we’d like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government of course, then we can fund SNAP and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people,” Vance said. “But in the midst of a shutdown we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation.”

U.S. District Judge John McConnell earlier Thursday rejected the administration’s plan to provide partial payments without tapping additional funds, saying it failed to comply with his previous order.

The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, throwing the fate of SNAP benefits for millions of Americans who rely on the program into limbo.

Make your predictions.