An EBT sign hangs in the window of a grocery store in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, on October 30, 2025.
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The Trump administration told a federal judge in Rhode Island on Monday that it will tap billions of dollars in emergency funds to pay 50% of the normal amount of SNAP benefits in November as the U.S. government shutdown drags on.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides food stamps to approximately 42 million low-income Americans.
The government told Justice Jack McConnell in a court filing that it rejected an option he proposed that would have tapped at least $4 billion from the Child Nutrition Program and other unspecified funds to pay the full November SNAP benefit.
Instead, the administration plans to use all of the remaining $4.65 billion in Congress-appropriated SNAP reserve funds for “November benefits that will be required to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allocations.”
McConnell said in Friday’s ruling that the administration cannot stop paying SNAP benefits. Prior to his order, the administration had rejected the idea of using reserve funds to prepare for the government shutdown starting Oct. 1.
Previous presidential administrations, including President Donald Trump’s first administration, have used reserve funds to continue paying SNAP benefits during government shutdowns.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks during a press conference at the Capitol on October 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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It is not clear when states will start paying benefits. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that benefits could be paid by Wednesday.
The administration said in Monday’s filing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture “will meet its obligation to fully disburse the SNAP reserve today by creating the tables necessary for each state to calculate the benefits available to each eligible household in that state.”
The USDA authorized states to begin disbursing benefits once the schedule is published.
Democracy Forward, an advocacy group whose lawyers represent plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to McConnell’s order, criticized the administration for not paying out all SNAP benefits by Monday.
“We are reviewing the administration’s filing in court and considering all legal options to ensure full payment of funds,” Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement.
“It doesn’t take a court order to compel the president to provide the essential nutrition that Congress has made clear is necessary,” Perryman said.
“The Trump administration just acknowledged what we’ve known all along: This money has been available all along, and the president could have used it to keep American families from going hungry,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.
“We’re waiting for clarity on when and how much of these benefits will be provided, but the president shouldn’t stop there,” Healey said. President Trump should fully fund SNAP benefits and make these benefits fully available as soon as possible. ”
McConnell gave the USDA two options in a written order Saturday.
One option was to use Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds and other unspecified funds to pay the full amount of November’s SNAP benefits by the end of the day on Monday.
The other option was to “pay a portion of the total contingency fee and… quickly resolve the administrative burden identified in the document. However, under no circumstances will the partial payment be made after Wednesday.”
In a separate court filing Monday, Patrick Penn, USDA’s deputy assistant secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, told McConnell that the agency was considering using Child Nutrition Program funds.
However, the department has determined that these funds “must be available to protect the full operation of the Child Nutrition Program throughout the fiscal year, rather than being used for SNAP benefits,” Penn said.
“The Section 32 Child Nutrition Program Fund is not a SNAP emergency fund,” Penn said. “Using billions of dollars from the Child Nutrition Administration for SNAP would leave an unprecedented hole in the Child Nutrition Administration’s funding that Congress did not have to fill with annual appropriations, and the Department of Agriculture cannot predict what Congress will do under these circumstances.”
He noted that nutrition programs include school lunches and summer meal service programs for children.
