The Trump administration agreed Monday to comply with court orders requiring the federal government to partially fund SNAP benefits using contingency, or emergency, funds. More than 40 million Americans were left in limbo as funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ran out Saturday.
The administration did not say how much SNAP beneficiaries would receive or when they would receive it. All of this comes as the government shutdown entered its second month on Saturday, with no new developments in negotiations.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
What did the orders state?
The court orders, issued nearly simultaneously on Friday, told the administration to fund SNAP using a contingency fund that contains about $5 billion. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the program costs the government more than $9 billion a month.
However, both federal judges said the USDA can decide whether to tap into $17 billion in tariff revenue to pay for the rest of November’s benefits. The two judges gave the administration until noon Monday to update the courts on the progress of the funding.
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell of Rhode Island ruled that the administration must fund the program by using at least the contingency funds. He also ruled that the USDA must continue to honor work requirement waivers. The department ended existing waivers that had exempted older adults, veterans and other groups from work requirements to receive benefits.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts similarly ruled that the USDA has to pay SNAP benefits and called the planned suspension “unlawful.”
How are people reacting after SNAP funding was paused?
Both sides have responded to the judges’ orders, but they are blaming each other for the funding freeze. Democrats in the Senate had tried to pass a bill that would allow the government to fund the program during the shutdown. The bill was blocked by Republicans who said Democrats were using it to “provide political cover.”
But some Republican senators are also looking at ways to fund SNAP during the shutdown.
“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.
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump could unfreeze funding for the program by Wednesday but that there is a “process that has to be followed.”
“So it could be done by Wednesday?” CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned Bessent.
“Could be,” Bessent answered. “And five Democratic senators could cross the aisle and open the government by Wednesday.”
Bessent also said the administration wouldn’t appeal the judges’ orders.
