A federal judge orders the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP food aid in November

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to find the money needed to fully fund SNAP benefits for November.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. gave President Donald Trump’s administration until Friday to make payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though 42 million Americans — about 1 in 8 — are unlikely to see the money on the debit cards they use at grocery stores that quickly.

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The order came in response to a challenge from cities and nonprofits complaining that the administration is only offering to cover 65% of the maximum benefit, a decision that would leave some recipients getting nothing for the month.

“Defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said. “They knew there would be a long delay in partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms that individuals who depend on these benefits would suffer.”

McConnell was one of two judges who ruled last week that the administration could not skip November benefits entirely because of the federal shutdown.

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Last week’s rulings ordered the government to use an emergency reserve fund containing $4.6 billion for November’s SNAP payment, but gave it leeway to tap other funds to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion a month.

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The administration said Monday it would not use additional funds, saying it was up to Congress to allocate money for the program.

The next day, Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefits at all unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government. His press secretary later said that partial benefits had been paid for November – and that future payments were at risk if the lockdown continued.

Late Wednesday, the USDA, which administers the program, said in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island that it had conducted further analysis and found that the maximum benefit would be 65% of the usual amount.

Speaking at the Food Bank of Greater Boston in Massachusetts on Thursday morning, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said the Trump administration was sending mixed messages: “Come on. You know, are you going to partially fund food for Americans? Are you going to let people starve?”

Associated Press writers Sarah Klein in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Susan Hay in Hartford, Connecticut; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.