A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to find the money to fully fund food stamps for 42 million low-income Americans in November by Friday, in a rebuke to the government’s plan to only provide reduced aid during the shutdown.
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. criticized the administration’s plan to partly fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in November, saying it had failed to comply with an order he issued on Saturday requiring the government to ensure Americans received full or partial benefits no later than Wednesday.
He also said the administration plowed ahead with a plan to partly cover benefits without addressing, as required, the fact that in many states, it could take weeks or months to implement the reduced benefits.
“The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened, and needless suffering will occur,” McConnell said. “That’s what irreparable harm here means.”
The judge added: “This should never happen in America.”
McConnell gave the Trump administration until Friday to make the payments through SNAP, though it is unlikely that the people who rely on it will see the money on the debit cards they use for groceries that quickly.
“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.”
This type of order is usually not subject to an appeal, but the Trump administration has challenged similar rulings before.
The ruling comes in response to a challenge to the administration’s offer to only partly fund U.S. food benefits amid the shutdown.
The plaintiffs want the SNAP program, which is a major component of the nation’s social safety net and serves about one in eight Americans, to be fully funded. Some states, including New York, Oregon and Virginia, declared states of emergency last week to provide funds that would keep benefits available. But the amounts provided were expected to amount to a fraction of normal federal government funding. The federal costs of SNAP amount to about $8 billion a month across the U.S.
The Trump administration said last month it would not pay benefits at all for November because of the federal shutdown. Last week, in separate rulings, two judges ordered the government to pay at least part of the benefits using an emergency fund. The administration initially said it would cover half, but later said it would cover 65 percent.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s insistence last month that benefits for November would not be paid because of the shutdown set off a scramble by food banks, state governments and the millions of Americans who receive the aid to find ways to ensure access to groceries.
Kristin Bateman, a lawyer for the coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations that challenged the government, told the judge the administration had other reasons for not fully funding the benefits.
“What defendants are really trying to do is to leverage people’s hunger to gain partisan political advantage in the shutdown fight,” Bateman told the court.
The judge’s order represents a significant legal setback for the Trump administration’s handling of federal benefits during the government shutdown. McConnell’s ruling emphasized the immediate human consequences of the administration’s partial funding approach, highlighting that vulnerable Americans would face food insecurity while states struggled to implement modified benefit systems.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program serves as a critical lifeline for millions of American families, providing essential food assistance to those facing economic hardship. The program’s scope, serving approximately one in eight Americans, underscores its importance to the nation’s social safety net infrastructure.
The legal challenge brought by cities and nonprofit organizations argued that the administration’s approach violated federal obligations to program beneficiaries. The coalition’s attorney suggested political motivations behind the funding decisions, framing the partial funding plan as an attempt to use food assistance as leverage in broader political disputes.
State-level emergency responses to the federal funding uncertainty demonstrated the widespread concern about potential gaps in food assistance. The emergency declarations by New York, Oregon and Virginia aimed to provide stopgap measures, though state resources represented only a small fraction of the typical federal investment in the program.
The months-long implementation timeline for reduced benefits in many states emerged as a critical factor in the judge’s decision. McConnell emphasized that the administration failed to adequately consider these practical obstacles when developing its partial funding strategy, potentially leaving beneficiaries without any assistance during extended transition periods.
The judge’s characterization of the situation as something that “should never happen in America” reflected strong judicial concern about the human impact of administrative decisions affecting food security for tens of millions of citizens.
The Trump administration’s evolving position on November benefits, from initially announcing no payments to offering 50 percent and then 65 percent coverage, suggested ongoing internal deliberations about how to manage program funding during the shutdown while facing legal pressure.
The tight Friday deadline imposed by Judge McConnell creates significant logistical challenges for benefit distribution, with the judge acknowledging that recipients may not see funds immediately available on their benefit cards despite the court-ordered payment deadline.
The case highlights broader tensions between executive branch decisions during government shutdowns and judicial oversight of federal obligations to vulnerable populations who depend on consistent access to essential government services.
