Some Trump administration officials gave conflicting answers Sunday about whether the White House plans to comply with a court order requiring them to fund the nation’s largest food aid program as the government shutdown enters its second month.

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold $8 billion in payments intended to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) running this month, starting Saturday. The measure threatens food access for the 42 million Americans who use the program.

The plan was blocked Friday by two federal judges who gave the USDA until Monday to decide how it would pay for food benefits, dismissing the administration’s claim that it would be illegal to use a $5 billion contingency fund to help pay for SNAP benefits during the shutdown.

“We’ve been taping and chewing gum over WIC and SNAP, which are the vulnerable population’s food programs, for over a month now,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said Sunday on News. “The judge came down … and said we actually need to use a smaller contingency fund. It won’t even cover about half of what November would cost.”

On Saturday, the court clarified that the government must make at least a partial payment by Wednesday. Rollins did not say whether the USDA would comply with the court order it disagrees with, but said the president, who spent the weekend golfing and hosting a Gatsby-themed Halloween party, is “fully focused” on providing food benefits to Americans.

Members of the California National Guard sort donated food at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank warehouse on Oct. 31. Two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration's decision to suspend SNAP benefits for more than 42 million Americans during the government shutdown is likely illegal, and that officials must use contingency funds to keep the program at least partially operational.
Members of the California National Guard sort donated food at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank warehouse on Oct. 31. Two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to suspend SNAP benefits for more than 42 million Americans during the government shutdown is likely illegal, and that officials must use contingency funds to keep the program at least partially operational.

Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a somewhat different response on Sunday, telling CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Trump administration will not appeal the court ruling and that the president has expressed a willingness to listen to the courts on how to fund SNAP.

“There is a process that needs to be followed, so we have to figure out what it is,” he said. The process is that the federal government must legally comply with clear orders from judges to use the contingency fund to pay SNAP benefits during the shutdown.

“If the Court gives us proper legal direction, I WILL BE HONORED to provide the funds, just as I did with the payment to military and law enforcement,” Trump said on Truth Social.

SNAP benefits are intended to support low-income families. Households “generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line” to qualify for SNAP benefits, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. For a family of four, that would equate to just under $42,000 a year.

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Rollins also doubled down on his recent comments calling SNAP “extremely corrupt,” accusing many recipients of taking advantage of the program. The secretary’s comments fuel decades of misinformation and racist stereotypes, including the Reagan-era “welfare queen” about low-income black and brown Americans who exploit food stamps and other government aid to avoid working.

The reality is that two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children, the elderly and people with disabilities, while the majority of adult recipients who can work have at least one job, according to the National Urban League. But with the ongoing shutdown and food stamp delays, many of those households will not be able to purchase food for their families.