Trump Administration Must Make Food Stamp Payments Within Days, Judge Says

Source: New York Times

Trump Administration Must Make Food Stamp Payments Within Days, Judge Says

The written order came one day after a court told the Trump administration it must pay benefits in the program known as SNAP during the shutdown.



A federal court ordered the government to continue funding food stamps during the shutdown and make full payments by Monday or partial payments by Wednesday. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

By Tony Romm
https://www.nytimes.com/by/tony-romm
Reporting from Washington
Nov. 1, 2025, 5:18 p.m. ET

One day after ordering the Trump administration to continue funding food stamps during the shutdown, a federal court gave the government a choice. It can either make full payments by Monday, or partial payments by Wednesday, to spare low-income Americans from hardship.

The written order by Judge John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island underscored the vast uncertainty that still surrounds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, whose roughly 42 million recipients remain in the dark as to when they may see their next round of benefits.

A spokeswoman for the White House budget office did not respond to a request for comment. Late Friday, President Trump predicted that food stamp aid would “unfortunately be delayed” in November, and warned that the payments would not begin until he received “appropriate legal direction” from the court.

The legal saga began earlier that day, when Judge McConnell told the Trump administration that it must tap an existing, emergency reserve in order to pay for SNAP starting Saturday, when its typical budget was set to run out. Absent that intervention, the administration’s actions would have cut off assistance to the roughly one in eight Americans who are enrolled in the program.

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Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/tony-romm

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/us/politics/trump-food-stamp-payments.html