Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) signage at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S., Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
Mel Musto | Bloomberg | fake images
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to pay all November SNAP benefits by Friday, rejecting the administration’s plan to partially fund that food stamp program for 42 million Americans during the U.S. government shutdown.
“People have been out of money for too long,” Judge Jack McConnell said during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island as he issued the order requiring the administration to tap into funding sources it had declared off-limits earlier this week.
“The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overstretched, and unnecessary suffering will occur” if SNAP is not fully funded, McConnell said.
“That’s what irreparable harm means here. Last weekend, SNAP benefits expired for the first time in our nation’s history,” the judge said. “This is a problem that could and should have been avoided.”
The order came after plaintiffs in the case urged him to reject the administration’s plan, revealed in a court filing Monday, to pay only partial benefits.
The Trump administration later Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to overturn McConnell’s order.
During Thursday’s hearing, McConnell pointed to a Social Truth post by President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday said SNAP benefits “will be awarded only when radical left Democrats open the government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
Trump’s post appeared to contradict statements by administration lawyers that benefits would be partially paid during the month. The White House later said it would follow McConnell’s order, but added that it would be necessary to provide partial benefits to recipients.
But McConnell at the hearing said Trump’s post was effectively an admission that the administration intended to defy his earlier order to pursue all possible funding sources so that full benefits could be paid.
Last week, the Trump administration had said it would not use a congressionally authorized contingency fund containing $4.65 billion to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November. The total cost of full SNAP benefits for the month is about $8 billion.
The program, like other federal programs, had no current allocation because Congress did not pass an interim funding bill that would reopen the U.S. government. Previous presidential administrations continued to pay SNAP benefits during previous shutdowns.
A group of cities, nonprofit charitable and religious groups, unions and business organizations sued the Trump administration, seeking to force it to use contingency funds and potentially other money to fund SNAP.
McConnell, during a court hearing last Friday, blocked the administration from suspending SNAP benefits. He told the administration to pay benefits from the contingency fund “as soon as possible” and to investigate whether other funds could be tapped to fully fund the month’s program.
On Monday, the administration told McConnell it would pay 50% of benefits using the contingency fund, but ruled out using at least $4 billion from the Child Nutrition Program, as well as other sources.
On Wednesday night, the administration updated its plan, saying 65% of benefits would be paid.
McConnell, during Thursday’s hearing, criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision not to use so-called Section 32 funds to fully fund November SNAP payments, calling the decision “arbitrary and capricious.”
“USDA had an obligation, beginning … on October 1, when the shutdown began, to prepare to use contingency funds so that beneficiaries would get their benefits as expected on November 1,” McConnell said.
“USDA didn’t. Even when Nov. 1 rolled around, USDA refused to use contingency funds mandated by Congress, USDA now can’t complain that it can’t get timely payments to recipients for weeks or months because states aren’t prepared to make partial payments.”
The ruling came after a coalition of about two dozen states asked another federal judge, in Boston, to order the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits. McConnell’s order came before another judge had time to rule on that request.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose state is one of the plaintiffs in the Boston lawsuit, said in a statement: “A Rhode Island judge just stopped the federal government from starving millions of Americans.”
“I’m relieved that people are getting the food they need, but it’s outrageous that it took a lawsuit to force the federal government to feed its own people,” James said.
