SNAP Benefits: The Court Deadlines Land Tuesday, With Full Payment Due November 3 or a Partial-Benefit Plan by November 5

For the roughly 42 million people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, November began with an empty card: the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that November benefits would not be paid because of the federal government shutdown, saying on its website that “the well has run dry” and that there would be no benefits issued November 1, in the litigation reporting read by the desk this cycle. States sued, arguing the department was sitting on a congressionally approved contingency fund built for exactly this kind of lapse.

On Friday, October 31, two federal judges agreed with the states. In Boston, Judge Indira Talwani ruled that the administration's refusal to use the contingency fund was “contrary to law” and gave the USDA until November 3 to present a plan to issue at least partial payments. In Rhode Island, Judge John McConnell issued a temporary restraining order requiring full payments by November 3, or a workable plan for partial benefits by November 5, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's summary of the rulings. The desk's searches Monday morning found no new USDA filing or announcement in the coverage available — the deadlines, not a filing, are Tuesday's story.

The arithmetic behind the orders has not changed: the contingency fund holds roughly $4.6 billion by the figures cited in the litigation, while a full month of SNAP costs between $8.5 and $9 billion — enough for partial benefits, not full ones, unless the administration taps other funds, a step the judges left to its discretion. An earlier administration plan covering about 65 percent of the maximum benefit was rejected by the Boston court as a final answer before Friday's orders landed. For San Antonio households whose cards load early in the month, even a Tuesday decision means a wait: card loading itself takes time after a plan is filed.