Mainers on Monday began receiving full monthly food assistance benefits again, despite lingering confusion nationwide over federal court rulings and conflicting guidance from the Trump administration.
The distribution of November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits comes after weeks of uncertainty and legal wrangling over whether they would be paid during the ongoing government shutdown.
On Monday, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and block lower-court decisions ordering the federal government to pay the full benefits. The high court is expected to rule on the case Tuesday.
The rapid-fire court rulings have created a situation where beneficiaries in some states, including Maine, Hawaii and New Jersey, have received their full monthly allocations, while those in others, such as Nebraska and West Virginia, have seen nothing.
“Thanks to the quick action of my administration, full benefits to eligible SNAP beneficiaries in Maine began flowing this morning — a move firmly supported by the courts,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement Monday. “Withholding these benefits was a cruel and callous decision by the Trump administration, and it should not have taken a court to deliver them — but I will do whatever is necessary to stand up for Maine people.”
The uncertainty over SNAP benefits, on top of the largest ever cuts to the program that went into effect in October, has put heightened pressure on Maine food pantries that are scrambling to keep up with demand for assistance.
Heather Paquette, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, which distributes food to 600 partner agencies across the the state, called the last month “a crisis.” She said some food pantries reported that requests for food assistance increased 30% to 50% in October, when some were enrolling dozens of new people each week. By November, they were enrolling hundreds of new people, she said.
“What the emergency food network has experienced through this crisis is unprecedented levels of need and visits,” Paquette said, adding that some of the agencies were running out of food and having to turn people away.
“In October, pantry visits were the highest we’ve ever seen reported,” she said.
Democratic attorneys general — including Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey — sued to force the Trump administration to maintain SNAP in November, winning favorable rulings last week and leading to the swift release of benefits to millions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, had said it was ready to make 65% payments for November benefits while the shutdown continued, but U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island directed the administration to make full payments by Friday by using other funds.
The USDA then issued guidance and took action to allow states to provide full November benefits for the 42 million Americans who rely on the program. Mills announced Friday that she had had directed the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to issue full benefits for eligible households.
But in a Saturday memo, the USDA said states “must not transmit full benefit issuance files to EBT processors. Instead, states must continue to process and load the partial issuance files that reflect the 35% reduction of maximum allotments.”
The agency said full payments for November were “unauthorized” and states “must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits.”
In a filing in federal court on Sunday, the USDA said states moved too quickly and erroneously released full SNAP benefits after last week’s rulings.
While speaking on the Senate floor Sunday in support of legislation to reopen the government, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she looks forward to ending “unnecessary harm to the security of our families and our nation.”
“One of the most unfortunate and shameful consequences of the shutdown has been that these vital nutrition programs were in jeopardy for our most vulnerable families, including 170,000 Mainers who rely on the SNAP program,” she said.
In Maine, nearly 12.5% of the population rely on SNAP, with five counties approaching or surpassing 20%. The state distributes about $29 million in benefits monthly, with the average family of four receiving $572.
This story contains reporting by The Associated Press.
