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.
But the thrust of the judge’s order raised logistical questions. The SNAP reserve totals about $5 billion, less than the roughly $8 billion needed to pay full SNAP benefits each month. Even if they used the money, officials at the Agriculture Department had also warned they might have to slash benefits by more than half, and that it could take weeks to pay them out because of technical constraints.
So, on Saturday, Judge McConnell clarified his ruling, citing the president’s request, and offered the Trump administration a timeline.
He said the government “must make” a partial payment by Wednesday, but he also encouraged federal officials to explore the use of a second source of money that might allow it to pay SNAP benefits more quickly and in full. He pointed specifically to a pot of funds at the Agriculture Department largely composed of tariff revenue, which the government had used earlier in the shutdown to preserve another federal nutrition program.
The judge said that the two funding sources, combined, could reduce any delay in delivering SNAP benefits, and alleviate “irreparable harm” facing families — and he ordered the administration to make those full payments by Monday.
It remained unclear how the Trump administration might proceed — or, potentially, if it might appeal the ruling. The Justice Department appeared to signal the mere possibility in a late Friday filing with the court, hinting that it was “considering whether any emergency relief is required.”
A spokesman for the agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
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