Judge orders Trump administration to deliver full SNAP benefits to states by Friday

A federal judge in Rhode Island has ordered the Trump administration to deliver SNAP payments in full to states by Friday.

The order, which U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued Thursday afternoon, followed two weeks of chaos and confusion about the fate of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, during the government shutdown.

McConnell ruled last week that the Trump administration had to distribute benefits as soon as possible, in response to a lawsuit filed by the progressive legal advocacy group Democracy Forward.

The group sued the Department of Agriculture late last month, after the agency said SNAP funding would not be distributed in November as long as the federal government remained closed. The lawsuit alleged that the USDA’s actions were arbitrary and capricious and therefore violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Trump administration agreed to partially fund the program by using $4.65 billion in contingency funds to cover about 65% of the benefits that eligible households would ordinarily receive. But it declined to draw from additional funding set aside for child nutrition programs. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also said it would take several weeks to deliver the partial payments.

Given those expected delays, Democracy Forward filed an emergency request asking McConnell to order the Trump administration to expedite benefits or grant additional relief.

At a hearing Thursday, the Trump administration said it had complied with the judge’s order and argued that the reason people have not received their SNAP benefits is that states have not distributed them. Tyler Becker, counsel to the assistant attorney general, said the partial benefits were released to states on Monday, adding that “this is a state problem.”

But McConnell said the Trump administration “did nothing to ensure” that SNAP benefits would be delivered this week. He ordered the administration to use the funding for child nutrition programs, known as Section 32 funding, in addition to the contingency funds to make sure payments are delivered in full.

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“The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened and needless suffering will occur,” McConnell said. “Last weekend, SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in our nation’s history. This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided.”

The Trump administration later filed a notice saying they intend to appeal McConnell’s ruling to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

The White House has directed all questions about the ruling to the Office of Management and Budget, which has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

While taking questions during a dinner with leaders of Central Asian countries, Trump deferred to Vice President JD Vance when asked about Thursday's court ruling. Vance called the judge's order "absurd."

"In the midst of a shutdown, we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation," Vance said.

The temporary lapse in SNAP benefits has already had dire impacts on families whose electronic benefits cards were due to be reloaded the first week of November. Some are skipping meals, and extremely high demand at food banks has forced some to put caps on the number of items that families can take home or how often they can visit. Other recipients say they might fall short on bills this month because they’ll need the money for food instead.

Nearly 42 million Americans rely on SNAP assistance. Around 4 in 5 of these households include a child, an older adult or someone with a disability.

Democrats and Republicans have blamed each other for the disruption. The Trump administration has said Democrats could keep SNAP running by agreeing to a short-term measure that would fund the government through Nov. 21. However, Democrats say Republicans could end the shutdown by agreeing to certain health care provisions, including an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits.

LaTonya Gamble, a 50-year-old SNAP recipient in Erie, Pennsylvania, is among the millions who have not gotten benefits on time this month. She lamented that elected officials have not done more to preserve the program.

“When you’re in a position to provide for people who are depending on these life-sustaining services, how can you be at war with each other in the midst of people trying to survive?” Gamble said. “These are some of the hardest times I’ve seen in 50 years.”

We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now, a person who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.