An EBT sign hangs in the window of a grocery store in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, on October 30, 2025.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to issue an emergency injunction against a judge’s order to pay 42 million Americans in full for November’s SNAP benefits by Friday.
The administration has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to allow 65% of this month’s food stamp benefits to be paid from the emergency fund, as it had proposed to the judge earlier this week.
The request came a day after Judge Jack McConnell issued an order denying the partial payment option in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island.
Mr. McConnell ordered his administration to use so-called Section 32 funds to fully pay for SNAP benefits, on top of the $4.65 billion already scheduled to be used from Congressional reserve funds. The administration had previously rejected the idea of using Section 32 funds for that purpose.
The appeals court on Friday morning directed the plaintiffs in the case to respond to the government’s motion seeking an emergency stay of McConnell’s order by noon ET.
The administration announced last week that it plans to completely stop payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in November due to a lack of funding currently appropriated by Congress.
The U.S. government has been shut down since October 1 after Congress was unable to agree on a bill to temporarily fund federal programs, including SNAP.
Previous administrations have continued to pay SNAP benefits during other government shutdowns.
Cities groups, philanthropic and faith-based nonprofits, labor unions and business groups are suing the Trump administration, asking the agency to order McConnell to provide full SNAP benefits.
On October 31, Mr. McConnell ordered his administration to pay at least some of the benefits from the emergency fund as soon as possible and to investigate whether other funds could be used to pay the full benefits.
The administration told McConnell on Monday that it would use contingency funds to pay for 50% of November’s SNAP benefits, but said no other funds would be used. On Wednesday, the government told a judge that 65% of the benefits could be paid after a review of available emergency funds.
Plaintiffs in the case say that is unacceptable and asked McConnell to order full benefits to be paid.
McConnell agreed, telling administration lawyers during Thursday’s hearing that “people have gone without for far too long.”
The judge said that if SNAP is not adequately funded, “the evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened, and unnecessary suffering will occur.”
“While the President of the United States has promised to help the people of the United States, his administration’s actions tell a different story,” McConnell wrote in a subsequent written order.
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