Fox Information’ Christina Coleman stories the most recent on how the federal government shutdown is impacting Individuals because the political blame sport continues.
The Trump administration advised a federal decide on Monday that it’s going to partially resume Supplemental Vitamin Help Program (SNAP) advantages for the month of November regardless of the continuing authorities shutdown, although when the funds will probably be distributed — and the way a lot beneficiaries will obtain — stays to be seen.
A senior Trump administration official advised the court docket in a sworn declaration Monday that the U.S. Division of Agriculture will allocate $4.65 billion of its $5 billion contingency fund to maintain the SNAP program funded for the month of November.
The motion is more likely to be welcome information for the 42 million Individuals who obtain SNAP support.
It comes after 25 Democratic state attorneys normal and governors sued USDA Tuesday over its determination to not allocate contingency funds to maintain the SNAP profit program funded throughout the federal government shutdown, at the moment in its thirty fourth day.
TWO JUDGES RULE TRUMP ADMIN MUST KEEP SNAP BENEFITS IN PLACE AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks alongside Home Speaker Mike Johnson throughout a information convention on Capitol Hill on Oct. 31, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Pictures)
The contingency funds is not going to completely cowl the prices to maintain SNAP operating by means of the month of November, as Trump administration officers testified in court docket final week. That quantity is nearer to $9 billion.
Patrick Penn, a senior USDA official who oversees the SNAP program, advised the court docket Monday that the up to date SNAP fee plan will cowl 50% of eligible households’ present allotments for November.
Funds will probably be decreased, nonetheless, and he warned that some people may see additional delays as a result of system adjustments and different administrative lags.
“There are procedural difficulties that states will doubtless expertise which might have an effect on November SNAP advantages reaching households in a well timed method and within the appropriately decreased quantities,” Penn mentioned, including that the USDA’s understanding is that these adjustments required to supply the decreased profit quantities to recipients will “take wherever from just a few weeks to as much as a number of months.”
SENATE GOP DIVIDED AS MILLIONS RISK LOSING FOOD AID IN SHUTDOWN STANDOFF
A volunteer shows info on the Supplemental Dietary Help Program at a grocery retailer in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Mel Musto/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)
The information comes after two federal judges on Friday ordered the Division of Agriculture to make use of its $5 billion contingency fund to maintain the meals support program operating past Nov. 1, when funding for this system expired.
U.S. District Choose John McConnell had specified that USDA “should distribute the contingency cash well timed, or as quickly as potential,” earlier than the Nov. 1 fee deadline.
“Defendants have labored diligently to adjust to the Courtroom’s order on the quick timeline offered by the Courtroom and through a authorities shutdown,” legal professionals for the Justice Division advised McConnell in a submitting Monday, accompanied by finer particulars of the plan.
SNAP signage at a grocery retailer in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Mel Musto/Bloomberg by way of / Getty Pictures)
USDA officers beforehand advised the court docket that that they had deliberate to maintain the $5 billion in emergency funds available to answer pure disasters — a element Penn famous on Monday.
“Which means that no funds will stay for brand new SNAP candidates licensed in November, catastrophe help, or as a cushion in opposition to the potential catastrophic penalties of shutting down SNAP completely,” Penn mentioned of the funding plan.
President Donald Trump mentioned on Friday that he had requested legal professionals for the administration to look into the matter and legally fund SNAP “as quickly as potential.”
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“If we’re given the suitable authorized course by the Courtroom, it is going to BE MY HONOR to supply the funding,” Trump mentioned in a social media put up.
The states who sued over the lapse in SNAP advantages warned that shutting off this system can be “devastating” for thousands and thousands of Individuals, and trigger “deterioration of public well being and well-being.”