Washington — The U.S. Department of Agriculture informed states Friday that it is working to comply with a federal judge’s order to provide full food benefits to roughly 42 million Americans through November, an agency official said.
Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said in new guidance issued to state agencies that the USDA is “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances in compliance with” an order from U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued Thursday.
Penn said in the guidance that “later today,” the Trump administration “will complete the processes necessary to make funds available” to cover November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in full.
The notification comes as the Justice Department has appealed the judge’s order requiring the administration to provide full assistance to Americans who use the allotments to purchase groceries. The Justice Department has also asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to block his order and requested a decision on its bid for emergency relief by 4 p.m.
McConnell is overseeing a lawsuit brought by a group of cities and nonprofits after the USDA informed states late last month it would halt food assistance for November to Americans enrolled in the nutrition program because of the ongoing government shutdown. He ordered the Trump administration last week to dip into a contingency fund to provide food aid to SNAP recipients for November.
The administration told the court Monday that it would comply with that order but said there was only enough reserve money to provide partial SNAP benefits. The USDA sent states the information needed to calculate the reduced payments to eligible Americans on Tuesday, but warned it could be weeks before the assistance reaches recipients.
The plaintiffs then asked McConnell for additional relief that would require the Trump administration to make full SNAP payments “immediately.”
In his latest decision, McConnell accused the government of undermining the “intent and the effectiveness” of his earlier order to distribute the aid to SNAP beneficiaries as soon as possible. He pointed to a social media post from President Trump on Tuesday, in which the president said benefits would be given “only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
Amid confusion as to whether the president was signaling the administration would not follow McConnell’s initial order to use the contingency funds, the White House clarified that it is complying with it.
Still, the judge said the Trump administration had to provide the full SNAP payments and pull from two sources — the contingency fund and a different pot used for Child Nutrition programs — to do so. McConnell said comments from administration officials indicate that food benefits are being withheld for “political purposes.”
