SNAP Benefits: Two Federal Judges Order the USDA to Use Its Contingency Fund for November Payments
A Boston judge called the administration's refusal to tap the fund 'contrary to law' and set a November 3 deadline for a payment plan; a Rhode Island judge ordered full payments by November 3 or a partial-benefit plan by November 5 — for a program that reaches about 42 million people.
Two federal judges ruled on Friday, October 31, that the Trump administration is legally required to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture's contingency funding to continue at least partial payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the government shutdown, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's summary of the rulings, read in full this cycle. SNAP provides food assistance to approximately 42 million people — about one in eight people in the United States — most of them families with children, people with disabilities, older adults, caregivers, students and workers paid low wages, the coalition notes.
In Boston, the judge ruled that the administration's refusal to use the contingency fund is 'contrary to law' and called its argument that the fund could not be used during a shutdown 'erroneous,' giving the USDA until Monday, November 3, to provide a plan for issuing at least partial payments. In a separate ruling later Friday, a Rhode Island judge granted the states and nonprofit agencies suing the administration a temporary restraining order, giving the administration until the end of the day on November 3 to make full payments, or until November 5 to provide a solution for administering partial benefits.
The rulings do not by themselves put money on a card this weekend: the orders set deadlines in the coming week, and the contingency fund, by the figures cited in the litigation as reported in the day's coverage, holds roughly $4.6 billion against a full month of SNAP costs between $8.5 and $9 billion — arithmetic that reaches partial benefits even under the judges' orders. For San Antonio, the stakes are household-level: SNAP is the grocery budget for a large share of the families this station covers, and November 1 was the date the USDA had said no benefits would be issued. The desk will file the administration's November 3 plan when it is presented.
