WASHINGTON DC -- The Trump administration said Monday that it will provide only half of the normal food stamp benefits for November by tapping into the program’s contingency fund amid the government shutdown. But recipients are not likely to see the payments immediately.

Some $4.65 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s contingency fund will “be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments” for November, according to a sworn statement from a US Department of Agriculture official submitted in federal court. The remaining $600 million in the fund will be used for state administrative expenses and nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

The decision came after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the USDA last week to either start providing full November benefits to recipients or partial benefits if the agency opts to only draw on SNAP’s contingency fund.

In court papers filed Monday, the administration said it decided against pulling $4 billion from other sources of money to provide full benefits for November.

Nearly 42 million Americans receive food stamps, providing households just over $350 a month, on average, as of May, according to the most recent USDA data.

The agency’s unprecedented decision to halt benefits has panicked many recipients, driving them to overwhelmed food pantries to help feed themselves and their families. Millions of SNAP recipients started missing their benefits on Saturday, and millions more could find themselves in the same situation over the course of the month, depending on when payments are made.

Delayed payments

Though the USDA will provide guidance on the partial payments to states on Monday, the agency noted that recipients in some states may not see their November benefits for weeks – or even months, Patrick Penn, the USDA official, told the court.

The partial payments will require states to reprogram their systems to adjust for the reduced allotments, which could prove complicated.

“Given the variation among State systems, some of which are decades old, it is unclear how many States will complete the changes in an automated manner with minimal disruption versus manual overrides or computations that could lead to payment errors and significant delays,” Penn said.

States stopped the process of issuing benefits for November after the USDA sent them a letter on October 10 ordering them to do so. The agency said that it does not have the funds to pay November’s assistance amid the federal government shutdown, which began October 1

States send SNAP enrollees’ information to vendors every month so they can load funds onto recipients’ benefit cards, often days or weeks before the new month begins. Those steps need to take place before SNAP can restart.

Providing full benefits for November would be easier and faster, but Penn said the USDA decided against dipping into a pot of money meant to fund child nutrition programs to help cover that cost because it “would leave an unprecedented gap” in that funding source, which ordinarily provides free or low-cost meals for school children, among other things.

“USDA has determined that creating a shortfall in Child Nutrition Program funds to fund one month of SNAP benefits is an unacceptable risk … because shifting $4 billion dollars to America’s SNAP population merely shifts the problem to millions of America’s low income children that receive their meals at school,” he wrote.

That funding source, which consists of leftover tariff revenue, currently contains nearly $17 billion.

Court rulings

In his ruling last week, Judge John McConnell, of the federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, gave the administration until 12 p.m. ET on Monday to say what it plans to do.

A second federal judge, in Boston, issued a similar order last week, saying the agency was required to use SNAP’s contingency fund to pay at least partial benefits.

Both judges said it was up to the agency’s discretion whether to access other money to enable it to provide full payments.

The USDA had maintained that it could not tap into its contingency fund, stating in a memo that “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” Also, it noted that the contingency funds are meant to pay food benefits in the case of natural disasters.

President Donald Trump indicated Friday evening that he wants benefits to resume, posting on Truth Social that he instructed the administration’s lawyers to ask the courts how it can legally fund the benefits as quickly as possible because the attorneys “do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available.”

“Even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” Trump wrote. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.”

The administration has opted to draw on the leftover tariff funds to fund other priorities. The USDA last month transferred $300 million from that pot in order to temporarily continue providing WIC food assistance for pregnant women, new moms and young children.

The decision to halt benefits prompted a group of Democratic attorneys general and governors from 25 states and Washington, DC, to file a lawsuit in Boston on Tuesday and a coalition of cities, non-profits, unions and small businesses to bring the case in Rhode Island on Thursday.

Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs in the Rhode Island case, said on Monday that it wasn’t satisfied with the administration’s decision to make only partial SNAP payments and that it is “considering all legal options to secure payment of full funds.”

“It shouldn’t take a court order to force our President to provide essential nutrition that Congress has made clear needs to be provided. But since that is what it takes, we will continue to use the courts to protect the rights of people,” said Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Rest assured, we will continue to fight so that people have the full benefits they are entitled to under SNAP.”

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