The Trump administration says SNAP will be partially funded in November

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it will partially fund SNAP after two judges issued rulings requiring it to continue operating the nation’s largest food assistance program.

The USDA, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer continue funding it during the federal government shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a key part of the country’s social safety net. It costs more than $8 billion a month nationally. The government says the emergency fund it will use is $4.65 billion, enough to cover about half of regular benefits.

He watches: Federal workers are struggling without pay as the long shutdown begins to affect more Americans

The depletion of the fund could potentially pave the way for a similar situation in December if the lockdown is not resolved by then.

It’s not clear exactly how much recipients will receive, nor how quickly the value will appear on the debit cards they use to buy groceries. November payments have already been delayed for millions of people.

The administration said it would provide details to states on Monday about calculating the partial benefit for each family. The process of loading SNAP cards, which involves steps by state and federal government agencies and suppliers, can take up to two weeks in some states. But the USDA warned in a lawsuit that it could take weeks or even months for states to make all the changes in the system to send out reduced subsidies. The average monthly benefit is usually around $190 per person.

The USDA said last month that November benefits would not be paid due to the federal government shutdown. That left food banks, state governments and the nearly 42 million Americans receiving aid scrambling to find ways to ensure access to groceries.

Most states have boosted aid to food banks, and some are creating systems to reload benefit cards with state taxpayer dollars. The threat of delay has also led to lawsuits.

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled separately but similarly on Friday, telling the government that it must use a single emergency fund to pay for the program, at least in part. They gave the government the option of using additional money to fully fund the program and a deadline of Monday to make a decision.

The USDA has chosen not to tap other emergency funds to ensure there is no gap in child nutrition programs for the remainder of this fiscal year, which runs through September 2026, Patrick Penn, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, said in a lawsuit Monday.

Trump said on social media on Friday that he “doesn’t want Americans to go hungry just because extremist Democrats refuse to do the right thing and reopen the government.” He said he was asking government lawyers to prepare SNAP payments as soon as possible.

Democratic attorneys general or governors from 25 states, plus the District of Columbia, objected to the plan to pause the program, arguing that the administration had a legal obligation to keep it running in their jurisdictions. Cities and nonprofits also sued.

Advocates and beneficiaries say stopping food aid will force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills. A majority of states have announced more or accelerated funding for food banks or new ways to load at least some benefits onto SNAP debit cards.

Rhode Island officials said Monday that under their program, SNAP beneficiaries who also receive benefits from another federal program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, received payments Saturday equivalent to a quarter of what they normally get from SNAP. Officials in Delaware are telling beneficiaries that benefits there will not be available until at least Nov. 7.

To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a household’s net income after certain expenses cannot exceed the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that’s about $32,000 a year.

Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.