BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled that the Trump administration must use emergency contingency funds to pay for the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), despite the ongoing government shutdown.
READ MORE: ‘Shutdown politics’: North Carolina AG sues Trump administration over pause in SNAP benefits
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The ruling, issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts, mandates the USDA must submit a plan by Monday, Nov. 3, on how it will restore at least partial benefits. The USDA must specify whether it will use only the contingency funds to issue reduced benefits or utilize additional available resources to fund the program fully.
The USDA’s directive to freeze all SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 threatened to suspend food aid indefinitely for approximately 42 million low-income Americans. For North Carolina, this would affect more than 1.4 million residents, including almost 600,000 children.
The judge’s ruling comes from a lawsuit submitted by a coalition of 25 states, including North Carolina, filed this week and arguing the USDA’s refusal to use $6 billion emergency contingency funding was unlawful and it lacked the legal authority to do so, since the money is Congressionally approved. The federal government noted the contingency couldn’t be appropriated for regular benefits, as it’s only for emergencies like natural disasters. It blamed the Democrats for the government shutdown, noting it was manmade.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins laid out the administration’s legal argument a press conference Friday before the decision was decided upon by the judge. Rollins said contingency funds “can only flow if the underlying appropriation is approved.”
In her memorandum on the decision, Talwani said the USDA’s suspension of SNAP payments was based on an “erroneous conclusion.” She clarified the government is “required to use those contingency funds as necessary for the SNAP program.”
Talwani ordered the USDA to tap into the emergency money, though it is insufficient to cover the program’s total monthly cost, which typically ranges from $8 to $9 billion. The funds were expected to cover at least two-thirds of the November benefits, providing enough relief to last only about 20 to 22 days before running out.
The USDA’s earlier order instructing states to stop processing November’s benefit files created a separate logistical crisis: Since generating, submitting, and loading millions of EBT cards typically takes days to over a week, the funds could not be processed in time for the normal Nov. 1 or early-month payment schedule. This guarantees a delay for recipients.
Thus, Talwani’s ruling does not solve the SNAP funding challenge, but merely postpones it to the third week of November, putting pressure back on Congress to end the shutdown before contingency funding for the anti-hunger program is exhausted.
In a press release sent Friday afternoon, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson hailed the federal court’s ruling in favor of the states’ coalition, calling it a major step toward preventing a hunger crisis.
“Great news,” Jackson wrote about the ruling. “We’re not finished, but this is a major step toward making sure 16 million kids don’t go hungry.”
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