Trump administration cannot withhold full funding of SNAP benefits, appeals court rules

BOSTON (Reuters) – A federal appeals court late on Sunday allowed a judge’s order to stand directing U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to fully fund this month’s food aid benefits for 42 million low-income Americans during the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay a Rhode Island judge’s Thursday decision requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to spend $4 billion set aside for other purposes to ensure Americans receive full benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The First Circuit’s ruling will not have an immediate impact because on Friday U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily stayed the lower court order issued by U.S. District Judge John McConnell. His temporary suspension remains in effect for 48 hours after the First Circuit’s decision.

Jackson’s order, along with previous court rulings and announcements from the administration and several states at the center of the litigation, have left the status of the nation’s hunger food aid program during the shutdown uncertain.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The Trump administration had appealed the lower court’s decision

On Saturday, the USDA ordered states, which administer benefits on a daily basis, to “undo” any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, ahead of Jackson’s order or risk financial penalties.

The administration had argued that McConnell could not force the USDA to find money beyond a contingency fund in the “metaphorical couch cushions” to pay full SNAP benefits as the shutdown continued. He blamed Congress for the crisis and said it was up to lawmakers to resolve it. The Senate moved forward Sunday with a measure aimed at reopening the federal government, which marked 41 days on Monday.

“We do not take lightly the government’s concern that money used to fund November SNAP payments will not be available for other important nutrition assistance programs,” U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman wrote for the three-judge panel.

But Rikelman, who like the other justices was appointed by a Democratic president, said the court could not conclude that McConnell abused his discretion. A ruling in the administration’s favor would have caused “widespread harm” by “leaving tens of millions of Americans without food as winter approaches,” he wrote.

The White House and USDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Monday.

SNAP benefits cost between $8.5 and $9 billion a month

SNAP benefits are paid monthly to eligible Americans whose income is less than 130% of the federal poverty line. The maximum monthly benefit for tax year 2026 is $298 for a one-person household and $546 for a two-person household.

The administration originally planned to completely suspend SNAP benefits in November, citing a lack of funding due to the shutdown. They cost between 8.5 and 9 billion dollars a month.

But in a lawsuit filed by a group of cities, nonprofits, a union and a food retailer, McConnell ruled that the administration must use emergency funds to partially fund SNAP benefits once it resolves the “administrative and administrative burdens” of paying reduced benefits, or tap into additional funds to fully pay for November SNAP benefits.

The USDA opted on Nov. 3 to use only contingency funds, which would provide $4.65 billion to cover benefits.

But McConnell concluded Thursday that the USDA did not address how it could take weeks or months for some states to change their systems to process the reduced benefits. He ordered him to tap into a $23.35 billion fund used for child nutrition programs to provide the $4 billion needed to make up the difference.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Toby Chopra, Alexia Garamfalvi and Alistair Bell)