SNAP update: Trump admin will pay 50% of food stamp benefits in November amid shutdown
Published Mon, Nov 3 2025 12:16 PM EST Updated 3 Hours Ago
thumbnail
Dan Mangan
The Trump administration told a judge that it would use contingency funds to pay at least some SNAP benefits during the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
SNAP provides food stamps to about 42 million Americans.
The administration declined the option U.S. District Court Judge Jack McConnell had suggested to make the full November payments for SNAP benefits by using money from the Child Nutrition Program and other funds.
The Trump administration told a Rhode Island federal judge on Monday that it would tap billions of dollars in contingency funds to pay 50% of the normal amount of SNAP benefits in November as the U.S. government shutdown persists.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides food stamps to about 42 million low-income Americans.
The administration in a court filing told Judge Jack McConnell that it had declined the option he suggested to make full November payments for SNAP benefits by using at least $4 billion from the Child Nutrition Program, as well as from other unspecified funds.
Instead, the administration will use all of the $4.65 billion remaining from a contingency fund for SNAP appropriated by Congress for “November benefits that will be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments.”
McConnell, in a ruling on Friday, said the administration could not cease paying SNAP benefits. Before his order, the administration had rejected the idea of using the contingency funds in the face of the shutdown, which began Oct. 1.
Prior presidential administrations, including the first one of President Donald Trump, have used contingency funds to continue paying SNAP benefits during government shutdowns.
It is not clear when the benefits will begin being paid out by individual states. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said that the benefits might be paid by Wednesday.
In its filing Monday, the administration said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds today by generating the table required for States to calculate the benefits available for each eligible household in that State.”
USDA authorized the states to begin disbursing the benefits once the table is issued.
more
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/03/snap-trump-food-court-shutdown.html
