BREAKING: Trump Administration Finds Path to Keep SNAP Partially Funded

The Trump administration told a judge Monday that it would use contingency funds to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the federal government shutdown.

The Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the now 34-day shutdown. More than 40 million Americans rely on SNAP to pay for groceries.

But two federal judges ruled it was unlawful to freeze SNAP payments.

In response, Patrick Penn, the USDA official who oversees SNAP, told a Rhode Island judge that the Trump administration will use an emergency fund of $4.65 billion to cover about half the normal benefits for November. The full cost of SNAP benefits is $8 billion each month.

The administration “intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November 2025,” according to Penn.

The move means “no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely,” Penn said.

Penn said it is “unclear how many states will complete the changes in an automated manner with minimal disruption versus manual overrides or computations that could lead to payment errors and significant delays.”

Restoration of funding could take “anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months,” he said.