PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — On Monday, the Trump administration announced it would provide partial funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November. This decision follows legal mandates from two judges requiring the government to maintain the program, which is the country’s most extensive food assistance initiative.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, responsible for SNAP, had initially intended to suspend payments from November 1 due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. This essential program supports roughly 12% of Americans and forms a critical component of the national social safety net, with monthly expenses exceeding $8 billion nationwide. To address the situation, the government plans to utilize an emergency fund containing $4.65 billion, sufficient to cover about 50% of the usual benefits.
Should this reserve be depleted, a similar funding challenge could arise in December if the shutdown persists.
The exact amount beneficiaries will receive and the timing of funds appearing on their grocery debit cards remains uncertain. Many have already experienced delays in their November disbursements.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who spearheaded a coalition of Democratic state officials in one of the lawsuits prompting the funding decision, expressed concerns. She stated, “The Trump Administration has the capacity to fully finance this program. Their refusal to do so will leave millions facing hunger and prolong the wait for relief as the government takes further steps to provide partial funding.”
How will SNAP beneficiaries manage?
As a result, recipients are strategizing on how to maximize their grocery budgets amid these uncertainties.
Corina Betancourt, who’s 40 and lives in Glendale, Arizona, already uses a food bank sometimes to get groceries for herself and her three kids, ages 8 through 11. With her SNAP benefits reduced and delayed, she’s expecting to use the food bank more and find ways to stretch what she has further.
But she is worried that there won’t be enough for her children to eat with about $400 this month instead of around $800. “We always make things work somehow, some way,” she said.
In Camden, New Jersey, 41-year-old Jamal Brown, who is paralyzed after a series of strokes and on a fixed income, said family members asked him for a list of groceries he needs so they can stock him up.
But not everyone has that help.
“How did you expect to live a healthy life if you’re not eating the right stuff?” he asked. “If you don’t have the access to the food stamps, you’re going to go to the cheapest thing that you can afford.”
Details on how payments will roll out are still to come
The administration said it would provide details to states on Monday on calculating the per-household partial benefit. The process of loading the SNAP cards, which involves steps by state and federal government agencies and vendors, can take up to two weeks in some states. But the USDA warned in a court filing that it could take weeks or even months for states to make all the system changes to send out reduced benefits. The average monthly benefit is usually about $190 per person.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference that it would take his state about a week to load benefit cards once the funding is made available.
“These are folks who are hungry, and every day matters,” Bonta said.
The USDA said last month that benefits for November wouldn’t be paid due to the federal government shutdown. That set off a scramble by food banks, state governments and the nearly 42 million Americans who receive the aid to find ways to ensure access to groceries.
The liberal group Democracy Forward, which represented plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits, said it was considering legal options to force full SNAP funding.
Other high-profile Democrats are calling for the government to do that on its own.
“USDA has the authority to fully fund SNAP and needs to do so immediately. Anything else is unacceptable,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on social media.
State governments step in
Most states have boosted aid to food banks, and some are setting up systems to reload benefit cards with state taxpayer dollars. The threat of a delay also spurred lawsuits.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled separately but similarly Friday, telling the government in response to lawsuits filed by Democratic state officials, cities and non-profits that it was required to use one emergency fund to pay for the program, at least in part. They gave the government the option to use additional money to fully fund the program and a deadline of Monday to decide.
Patrick Penn, Deputy Under Secretary Food Nutrition and Consumer Services for USDA, said in a court filing Monday that the department chose not to tap other emergency funds to ensure there’s not a gap in child nutrition programs for the rest of this fiscal year, which runs through September 2026.
Advocates and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills. The majority of states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the SNAP debit cards.
New Mexico and Rhode Island officials said Monday that some SNAP beneficiaries received funds over the weekend from their emergency programs. Officials in Delaware are telling recipients that their benefits won’t be available until at least Nov. 7.
To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a household’s net income after certain expenses can’t exceed the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that’s about $32,000 per year.
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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey. Associated Press reporters Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C.; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California, contributed.
