Updated November 7, 2025 at 12:11 PM MST
WASHINGTON — A Rhode Island federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to find enough money to restore full funding for SNAP benefits by Friday.
In failing to fully fund the food assistance program that covers 42 million low-income Americans, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr. said the government "failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer." He also said President Trump showed "intent to defy a court order" when he posted on Truth Social this week that SNAP benefits would not restart until after the federal shutdown was over, a comment that was walked back by the White House.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture swiftly appealed the judge's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, keeping food aid in limbo.
The administration also asked for a stay to avoid paying full SNAP benefits while its appeal plays out. "There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions," it said in a court filing. It also said "raiding" money from a larger agency fund, as the court directed, would harm other child nutrition programs with no guarantee that Congress will replenish that money.
In a statement to NPR, the USDA blamed Senate Democrats for withholding services to promote their agenda and compromising "not only SNAP, but farm programs, food inspection, animal and plant disease protection, rural development, and protecting federal lands."
The judge's order Thursday afternoon comes in response to a challenge filed by cities and nonprofits after the administration said it would halt funding for the program on Nov. 1. McConnell and another federal judge in Boston ordered the government to use emergency funds to keep SNAP funding flowing, but Trump administration officials said it was only able to partially cover the payments.
"The court could not be more clear," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one the groups that brought the lawsuit. "The Trump-Vance administration must stop playing politics with people's lives by delaying SNAP payments they are obligated to issue."
On Wednesday night, the Trump administration said it would cut November's SNAP food benefits by a bit less than it had previously announced. In revised guidance for states, which are calculating partial payments, the USDA said in a court filing maximum allotments would be reduced by 35% instead of 50%.
Even with the smaller proposed cut, the complex formula for reduced payments would have stayed the same, and still mean steep cuts for those who rely on the country's largest anti-hunger program.
USDA's proposed change came after an analysis by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which found the agency's original formula for partial payments would not have tapped all of its contingency funds. Two federal judges had found the administration is legally bound to spend that money to keep SNAP going.
CBPP also estimated the original reduced benefit plan would have left nearly 5 million people with no payment at all this month.
USDA did not respond to NPR's request for comment on the center's analysis or its changed plan. But in a court filing late Wednesday related to the revised partial payment formula, the Justice department wrote the agency "realized this error and worked to issue new guidance and tables as soon as it was discovered."
The change will be small in some cases. For example, the minimum allotment for some 1-to-2 person households under the USDA's revised formula went from $12 to $16.
McConnell ordered the administration to restart the country's largest anti-hunger program after funding lapsed last Saturday, a month into the government shutdown. USDA rejected the suggestion by that judge, and another federal judge in Boston, that it tap a larger pot of money to fully cover SNAP payments. Instead, it chose to use only a smaller contingency fund that could cover only about half of the program's monthly cost.
Implementing the administration's complex partial funding formula presents enormous procedural challenges for states, which administer the program that serves 42 million Americans. The USDA itself warned it could take weeks or even months to get the benefits to people.
"It requires a complete recalculation and a complete recoding of our system," said Tikki Brown, the head of Minnesota's Department of Children, Youth and Families. She said there is no timeline yet for payments in her state.
Danny Mintz, who works for the civic technology nonprofit Code for America, said some states have antiquated systems from the 1970s that make it difficult to quickly implement sweeping calculation changes.
"There are legitimate concerns that altering the calculations of benefits may break things," he said. "The quickest way for states to get benefits into people's hands is for USDA to fund the full amount of SNAP benefits."
Some states already are warning it could be weeks before payments can be made.
In a bluntly worded letter to USDA — seen by NPR member station WESA — Pennsylvania Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh said the federal government is "directing states to use the most complex and labor-intensive approach possible."
Pennsylvania is asking to use a simpler, faster method that was allowed for pandemic-related aid, and would essentially give everyone half their SNAP payment.
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