US shutdown: Trump administration to pay half of food stamp benefits in November — how will SNAP funding work?

The Trump administration said Monday that it would provide only half of the normal food stamp benefits for November by tapping into the programme’s contingency fund amid the government shutdown, but recipients were unlikely to see the payments immediately. Some $4.65 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme’s contingency fund will “be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments” for November, according to a sworn statement from a US Department of Agriculture official submitted in federal court, CNN reported. The remaining $600 million in the fund will be used for state administrative expenses and nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico and American Samoa. The decision came after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the USDA last week to either start providing full November benefits to recipients or partial benefits if the agency opted to draw only on SNAP’s contingency fund. In court papers filed Monday, the administration said it decided against pulling $4 billion from other sources of money to provide full benefits for November. Some SNAP recipients were due to receive funds in the first few days of November, meaning their benefits have already been delayed. The logistical challenge posed by a partial delivery of benefits is expected to delay payments further, though the timeline will likely vary from state to state, experts told ABC News. Using emergency funds to pay for reduced SNAP benefits could take "a few weeks to up to several months," a top US Department of Agriculture official told a federal judge in a sworn court filing on Monday. Since food stamp benefits are administered at the state level, the USDA is expected to provide instructions to state agencies, which will then calculate the level of partial benefits for each recipient and provide those figures to be loaded onto the electronic cards used by families, Tracy Roof, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island who studies the food stamp programme, told ABC News. "The daunting part is that states have to go in and make this adjustment to their payment amounts," Roof said, estimating the operational hurdle could range from several days to more than a week after a federal directive, depending on the state. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke alongside Donald Trump during a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House on September 05-2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration committed to spend SNAP funds available in an emergency account meant to aid families in the event of an interruption of the programme. That reserve of contingency funds carries a total of about $6 billion, according to the non-partisan Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, putting the account well short of the $8 billion necessary to fully fund SNAP in November. The Trump administration said it would tap $4.65 billion in funds. The Trump administration opted against drawing upon a larger pot of money set aside for child nutrition programmes by the Department of Agriculture. This alternate fund holds about $30 billion, far exceeding roughly $3 billion per month needed to fund the relevant child nutrition payments, David Super, law professor at Georgetown University, told ABC News. "The Trump administration could transfer enough money over to SNAP to pay for full benefits in November without any conceivable risk to child nutrition," Super said, adding that the fund could likely also support full benefits in December "without breaking a sweat."In his ruling last week, Judge John McConnell, of the federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, gave the administration until 12 p.m. ET on Monday to say what it planned to do. A second federal judge, in Boston, issued a similar order last week, saying the agency was required to use SNAP’s contingency fund to pay at least partial benefits. Both judges said it was up to the agency’s discretion whether to access other money to enable it to provide full payments. The USDA had maintained that it could not tap into its contingency fund, stating in a memo that “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” It also noted that the contingency funds are meant to pay food benefits in the case of natural disasters. President Donald Trump indicated Friday evening that he wanted benefits to resume, posting on Truth Social that he instructed the administration’s lawyers to ask the courts how it could legally fund the benefits as quickly as possible because the attorneys “do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available.” The decision to halt benefits prompted a group of Democratic attorneys general and governors from 25 states and Washington, DC, to file a lawsuit in Boston on Tuesday and a coalition of cities, non-profits, unions and small businesses to bring the case in Rhode Island on Thursday.