Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds were still frozen as of Saturday, Nov. 1 amid a government shutdown that has caused concern for millions of people. Although the Trump administration was ordered by two federal judges on Friday to pay the benefits, the president said Friday “government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available.”
While Trump added in his Truth Social post that he has instructed lawyers to “ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible,” it remains to be seen if or how this will happen.
About one in eight Americans uses SNAP, which is the largest food aid program in the country.
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Court filings submitted by the Department of Justice stated an emergency fund has $5.3 billion in it, which falls short of the $9 billion needed to pay full benefits. However, on Friday both federal judges said the USDA can decide if they want to use $17 billion in tariff revenue to pay for the rest of November’s benefits.
Democrats such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said there was now no excuse not to fund the food assistance program.
“It is purely a cruel political decision, not a legal one,” Klobuchar said in a statement . “They should immediately act — as the court has required — to ensure food assistance continues to go to families in need.”
Some Republicans are also trying to fund SNAP as well, The Hill reported.
“I think we got to find some way to get help to 40 million people. This Saturday is going to be bad. It’s going to be really bad,” the outlet quoted Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., as saying earlier in the week.
Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told CNN that if the administration complies with the courts rulings to use either of the funds, then SNAP benefits could begin to be issued with only a short delay.
Still, state agencies stopped processing aid after the USDA sent them a letter telling them there will be “insufficient funds” to pay benefits if the government shutdown continued after October.
About 3 million recipients were supposed to receive benefits on Nov.1, an estimate by Code for America provided to CNN stated. About 13.7 million total are set to get them by Nov. 5, while other SNAP participants receive it on a staggered basis.
“They are not going out on time,” Gina Plata-Nino, interim director of SNAP at the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group, said to CNN.
In in the 2025 fiscal year, 42 million people used SNAP, according to USDA figures.
Food banks have been preparing for surges in light of the SNAP uncertainty, Straight Arrow News previously reported.
“For every meal that a food bank provides, SNAP can provide nine,” Stephanie Sullivan, assistant director of marketing and communications at Food Bank for the Heartland, said in an interview with SAN. “There’s absolutely no way we can make up for that loss.”
Some states have acted to use their own funds for emergency food assistance, or to support food banks at this time.
