SNAP benefits in limbo as Trump administration fights court orders

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s administration on Friday told states to pay full food benefits for November, even as it fought in court to withhold the aid.

In a memo to states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, said it is “working to implement full benefit issuances in November 2025” in response to a court order.

Hours after the memo was sent, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to block the lower court’s order for benefits to be distributed, even after several states had already sent the funds. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a stay pending resolution of the administration’s appeal to a lower court.

The Supreme Court’s involvement is the latest twist in a crazy tug-of-war over food benefits for more than 22 million American households, housing more than 42 million people, during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

At first, the Trump administration said it could not pay November benefits because Congress had not appropriated funds for the operations of the USDA and other federal agencies. Democrats and nonprofits sued, and a court ordered the administration to tap into a contingency fund and pay at least partial benefits.

Then President Donald Trump himself said there would be no SNAP benefits until Democrats agreed to reopen the government, only to have White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt say he didn’t mean it. On Thursday, the court ordered the USDA to pay full benefits, rather than partial ones, taking advantage of other available funds. The administration immediately appealed the order, but said Friday in the USDA memo that it would prepare for November benefits to be sent out in full.

AP Photo/Eric Gay

When asked about the ongoing litigation, the USDA referred News themezone to Friday’s memo to states.

“Later today, FNS will complete the necessary processes to make funds available to support its subsequent transmission of completed issuance files to its EBT processor,” the memo said, referring to electronic benefit transfer cards used to distribute SNAP benefits.

Food assistance allocations begin to be distributed on the first of the month, and as benefit issuance is staggered throughout the month in most states, more households have lost SNAP benefits each day.

Deb Phillips, 66, lives with her daughter and granddaughters in Peoria, Arizona. He said he gets by on Social Security benefits and a pension from his time in the Air Force. He said he lost the $423 in SNAP benefits he normally receives on the 4th of each month. He said he knew the deposit would be lost because he had been following news about the closure.

“If I didn’t have some money in reserve, knowing this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have food in the house right now,” Phillips told News themezone.

Phillips said she can stretch her food budget in part by making more macaroni and cheese than usual, but she worries her granddaughters will get tired of it. She is furious with the government.

“I am very dismayed that our country’s leaders let this go,” she said.