Judges order Trump administration to use emergency reserves for SNAP
payments during the shutdown
[November 01, 2025]
By MICHAEL CASEY, GEOFF MULVIHILL and KIMBERLEE KRUESI
BOSTON (AP) — Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday
that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to pay for
SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using emergency reserve
funds during the government shutdown.
The judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island gave the administration
leeway on whether to fund the program partially or in full for November.
That also brings uncertainty about how things will unfold and will delay
payments for many beneficiaries whose cards would normally be recharged
early in the month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program starting Nov. 1 because it
said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown. The program
serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s
social safety net. It costs about $8 billion per month nationally.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and the ranking member of
the Senate Agriculture committee that oversees the food aid program,
said Friday's rulings from judges nominated to the bench by former
President Barack Obama confirm what Democrats have been saying: "The
administration is choosing not to feed Americans in need, despite
knowing that it is legally required to do so.”
Trump posted on social media Friday blasting congressional Democrats for
the shutdown and suggesting the government would comply with the rulings
but also that it needed more clarity first: “If we are given the
appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide
the funding."
Judges agree at least one fund must go toward SNAP
Democratic state attorneys general or governors from 25 states and the
District of Columbia challenged the plan to pause the program,
contending that the administration has a legal obligation to keep it
running in their jurisdictions.
The administration said it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund of
about $5 billion for the program, which reversed a USDA plan from before
the shutdown that said money would be tapped to keep SNAP running. The
Democratic officials said not only could that money be used, but that it
must be. They also said a separate fund with around $23 billion is
available for the cause.
In Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ruled
from the bench in a case filed by cities and nonprofits that the program
must be funded using at least the contingency funds. He asked for an
update on progress by Monday.
Along with ordering the federal government to use emergency reserves to
backfill SNAP benefits, McConnell ruled that all previous work
requirement waivers must continue to be honored. The USDA during the
shutdown has terminated existing waivers that exempted work requirements
for older adults, veterans and others.
There were similar elements in the Boston case, where U.S. District
Judge Indira Talwani ruled in a written opinion that the USDA has to pay
for SNAP, calling the suspension “unlawful.” She ordered the federal
government to advise the court by Monday as to whether they will use the
emergency reserve funds to provide reduced SNAP benefits for November or
fully fund the program “using both contingency funds and additional
available funds.
“Defendants’ suspension of SNAP payments was based on the erroneous
conclusion that the Contingency Funds could not be used to ensure
continuation of SNAP payments,” she wrote. “This court has now clarified
that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary
for the SNAP program.”
For many, benefits will still be delayed after the ruling
No matter how the rulings came down, the benefits for millions of people
will be delayed in November because the process of loading cards can
take a week or more in many states.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, is joined at left
by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins as they head to a news
conference to talk about SNAP food aid benefits on day 31 of the
government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 31,
2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The administration did not immediately say whether it would appeal
the rulings.
States, food banks and SNAP recipients have been bracing for an
abrupt shift in how low-income people can get groceries. Advocates
and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to
choose between buying groceries and paying other bills.
Most states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks
or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the SNAP debit
cards.
Across the U.S., advocates who had been sounding the alarm for weeks
about the pending SNAP benefits cut off let out a small sigh of
relief as the rulings came down Friday, while acknowledging the win
is temporary and possibly not complete.
"Thousands of nonprofit food banks, pantries and other organizations
across the country can avoid the impossible burden that would have
resulted if SNAP benefits had been halted,” said Diane Yentel,
president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, one of the
plaintiffs in the Rhode Island case.
The possibility of reduced benefits also means uncertainty
Cynthia Kirkhart, CEO of Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington, West
Virginia, said her organization and the pantries it serves in
Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia will keep their extra hours this
weekend, knowing that the people whose benefits usually arrive at
the start of the month won’t see them.
“What we know, unless the administration is magical, is nothing is
going to happen tomorrow,” she said.
Kristle Johnson, a full-time nursing student and mother of three in
Florida, is concerned about the possibility of reduced benefits.
Despite buying meat in bulk, careful meal planning and not buying
junk food, she said, her $994 a month benefit doesn’t buy a full
month’s groceries.
“Now I have to deal with someone who wants to get rid of everything
I have to keep my family afloat until I can better myself,” Johnson
said of Trump.
The ruling doesn't resolve partisan tussles
At a Washington news conference earlier Friday, Agriculture
Secretary Brooke Rollins, whose department runs SNAP, said the
contingency funds in question would not cover the cost of the
program for long. Speaking at a press conference with House Speaker
Mike Johnson at the Capitol, she blamed Democrats for conducting a
“disgusting dereliction of duty” by refusing to end their Senate
filibuster as they hold out for an extension of health care funds.
A push this week to continue SNAP funding during the shutdown failed
in Congress.
To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a family of four’s net income after
certain expenses can’t exceed the federal poverty line, which is
about $31,000 per year. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41
million people, nearly two-thirds of whom were families with
children.
“The court’s ruling protects millions of families, seniors, and
veterans from being used as leverage in a political fight and
upholds the principle that no one in America should go hungry,” Skye
Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said of the Rhode
Island decision.
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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey; and Kruesi from
Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in
Washington, D.C., contributed.
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