Trump backtracks and says food aid will only be paid when shutdown comes to an end

By Pedro Lima São Paulo, 04/11/2025 - The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Tuesday that the government will only resume the payment of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) when the federal shutdown ends, in a new turn after signaling earlier in the week that the benefit would be partially funded. In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared that the SNAP benefits, "which have increased by billions and billions of dollars (MANY TIMES!) during the disastrous tenure of Joe Biden", will be paid "only when the radical left-wing Democrats open the government, which they can easily do - and not before!". The federal shutdown entered its 35th day today, matching the historic record for the length of a shutdown. The message reverses the position expressed yesterday, when the Department of Agriculture had announced the use of an emergency fund of $4.65 billion to cover about half of the program's normal payments this month, following court orders that ...