Welcome to the NewsHour. Two federal judges ruled today that the Trump administration must

continue to pay for SNAP benefits during the government shutdown using emergency funds that were

set aside earlier by Congress. It comes one day before a freeze was set to take effect for

the nation's biggest food aid program, which is also known as food stamps.

Before the judge's rulings came down, House Speaker Mike Johnson gave a news conference,

along with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins.

They warned that her department's $5 billion contingency fund cannot cover SNAP for long if

the shutdown continues. It is a contingency fund thatAP for long if the shutdown continues.

It is a contingency fund that can only flow if the underlying appropriation is approved.

And listen, even if it could flow, it doesn't even cover half of the month of November.

So here we are again in two weeks having the exact same conversation.

Democrats have argued that a separate fund with about $23 billion could be tapped to keep the food stamp program running. Snap pays out about $8 billion per month and goes to roughly

one in eight Americans. Another social safety net program that is potentially at risk with

this shutdown is Head Start, the federal program that provides early childhood education, health,

and food support for low-income families. Without funding, hundreds of Head Start programs

across the country will have to close their doors, which could impact

tens of thousands of children across the country.

Here's how Rika Strong, who runs some Head Start programs in Vancouver, Washington, described

it.

When I look at our families, when I look at our babies and I walk into that classroom, and

I'm sorry, it makes me emotional because I know the support and the impact that our programs have,

both on our children and families,

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