Washington — A Rhode Island judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to provide full federal food benefits to states by Friday and admonished the government for what he said is its defiance of an earlier order.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell told Justice Department lawyers that it is “simply unacceptable” to wait any longer before providing the full payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and instead said the administration should act swiftly.
“Without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry,” McConnell said. “This should never happen in America.”
The judge granted a request from municipalities and nonprofit organizations to order the administration to provide the full food benefits. He declined to pause his decision, arguing that “people have gone without for too long.”
McConnell also accused the Trump administration of withholding SNAP benefits “for political reasons,” citing statements by President Trump earlier this week, in which he said the food stamp funds would only be released “when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
The White House clarified that it is complying with an earlier order from McConnell that required the Trump administration to tap into a contingency fund to provide partial SNAP benefits for November. The USDA notified states late last month that the food aid would not go out because of the ongoing government shutdown, which entered its 37th day Thursday.
The Justice Department quickly appealed McConnell’s order and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to freeze the district court’s decision. Justice Department lawyers said his ruling “makes a mockery of the separation of powers.”
“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” they wrote in their request for emergency relief.
Administration officials have said there is roughly $4.6 billion in the contingency fund that can be used to cover November SNAP payments and fully covering those benefits would require roughly $9 billion.
Vice President JD Vance called the ruling “absurd” at an unrelated White House event Thursday evening.
“In the midst of a shutdown, we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation,” Vance said.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the municipalities and nonprofits, praised the decision from McConnell, calling it a “major victory” for the 42 million Americans who receive food aid.
“The court could not be more clear — the Trump-Vance administration must stop playing politics with people’s lives by delaying SNAP payments they are obligated to issue,” she said in a statement.
In a written decision, McConnell ordered the Trump administration to dip into the contingency fund as well as a different pot of money created by Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935 to make full payments of November SNAP benefits. That account is funded by a percentage of customs receipts on imports from the prior calendar year and aims to support producers of certain agricultural commodities. It had more than $23 billion in it as of Oct. 9, according to the White House budget office.
The judge wrote that as of Thursday, SNAP recipients haven’t received their benefits for the month, and he said the Trump administration knew that pulling from the contingency fund to provide food benefits would prolong their disbursement.
Administration officials “overlook the fundamental point that compliance is achieved when Americans are fed, not when the federal government shifts the administrative burden of disbursing funds onto the States — especially when there is still no clear disbursement date in sight,” McConnell said.
He also accused the Trump administration of “withholding full SNAP benefits for political purposes” and pointed to social media comments from Mr. Trump about the payments.
The Justice Department told the court earlier this week that the USDA would comply with McConnell’s earlier decision and “fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds.” A USDA official overseeing SNAP said in a declaration Monday that roughly $4.6 billion in reserve money would be used to cover 50% of eligible households’ allotments.
The agency “intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November,” the official, Patrick Penn, said.
He then told the court in a filing earlier Thursday that benefits will actually be reduced by 35% instead of halved after the USDA conducted further calculations. As a result, eligible Americans will receive up to 65% of their benefits, more than the initial 50% that states had been directed to implement earlier this week.
Supreme Court appears to push back against Trump administration lawyer over tariffs
Trump says government shutdown was “a big factor” in GOP election losses
Man says he was trapped by fire surrounding auto shop after UPS plane crash
