PROVIDENCE, R.I. — President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP after two judges issued rulings requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep the nation’s largest food aid program running.
The USDA, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the federal government shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net.
SNAP costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion — enough to cover about half the normal benefits. Exhausting the fund potentially sets the stage for a similar situation in December if the shutdown isn’t resolved by then.
It’s not clear exactly how much beneficiaries will receive, or how quickly they will see value show up 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 Monday on calculating the per-household partial benefit. The process of loading the SNAP cards, which involves steps by state and federal government agencies and vendors, can take up to two weeks in some states.
But the USDA warned in a court filing that it could take weeks or even months for states to make all the system changes to send out reduced benefits. The average monthly benefit is usually about $190 per person.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said the lag time and attribution to system changes is “unacceptable.”
“Federal courts have affirmed that USDA has both the authority and the obligation to act swiftly,” Pingree said in a statement on Monday. “Instead, the administration is choosing to delay help and shortchange hungry families.”
Pingree also cited the administration’s recent investments, including $40 billion to Argentina and $200 million on private jets for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“But when it comes to hungry children and working families, all we get are excuses,” Pingree said.”
Sen. Susan Collins said the forecasted delays “highlight the urgent need to reopen the government” and fully fund key programs.
“It is unacceptable that Americans are being faced with hunger and financial hardships because of partisan brinkmanship in Washington,” Collins said in a statement on Monday. “The best way to ensure that programs like SNAP, WIC, and low-income heating assistance are funded is to reopen government immediately, which is something we could do right now.
Gov. Janet Mills said it should not have required a lawsuit for the administration to release the funding.
“Look, people across Maine are not asking for a lot: they want to be able to feed their kids, they want to have affordable health care, and they want a government that functions,” Mills said in a statement on Monday. “Republicans should stop standing in the way of these commonsense things.”
Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said “the president should do everything he can” to ensure full SNAP benefits reach Mainers, “but Congress is not a bystander in this crisis.”
“Both sides have made their points,” Golden said in a written statement. “It’s time for this shutdown to end. We need to reopen the government, get SNAP and other critical programs back online, and then find path forward to prevent price spikes on health care for millions of Americans.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, who joined one of the two lawsuits that judges ruled on Friday, declined to comment Monday.
Sen. Angus King did not provide a comment on Monday.
The USDA said last month that benefits for November wouldn’t be paid because of the federal government shutdown. That set off a scramble by food banks, state governments and the nearly 42 million Americans who receive the aid to find ways to ensure access to groceries.
“We are still learning the final outcomes of SNAP funding,” Heather Paquette, CEO of Good Shepherd Food Bank, said in a statement on Monday. “While we are encouraged to learn that some funding will be possible, we are already experiencing increasing rates of food insecurity with a fully funded SNAP program.”
Most states have boosted aid to food banks, and some are setting up systems to reload benefit cards with state taxpayer dollars. The threat of a delay also spurred lawsuits.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled separately but similarly Friday, telling the government that it was required to use one emergency fund to pay for the program, at least in part. They gave the government the option to use additional money to fully fund the program and a deadline of Monday to decide.
Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary of food, nutrition and consumer services for USDA, said in a court filing Monday that the department chose not to tap other emergency funds to ensure there’s not a gap in child nutrition programs for the rest of this fiscal year, which runs through September 2026.
Trump said on social media Friday that he does “NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT.” He said he was telling government lawyers to prepare SNAP payments as soon as possible.
Democratic state attorneys general or governors from 25 states, as well as 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. Cities and nonprofits also filed a lawsuit.
Advocates and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills. The majority of states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the 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 equal to one-fourth of what they typically get from SNAP. Officials in Delaware are telling recipients that benefits there won’t be available until at least Nov. 7.
To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a household’s net income after certain expenses can’t exceed the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that’s about $32,000 per year.
Staff Writer Drew Johnson contributed to this report.