After Trump post on SNAP funds sparks confusion, White House says administration is complying with court order
Washington — The White House clarified Tuesday that the Trump administration is complying with a federal court order that requires it to tap into a contingency fund to provide food benefits to tens of millions of Americans after President Trump said the aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will go out only when Democrats vote to end the ongoing government shutdown.
The reassurance from the White House came after the president wrote in a post on Truth Social that SNAP benefits "will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!"
Mr. Trump's comment raised questions as to whether the administration would abide by a Rhode Island judge's order to use reserve funds to issue federal food benefits to Americans enrolled in SNAP. Administration lawyers told the court Monday that it would tap into the contingency pot to issue reduced food stamp payments for November. The Justice Department said in a filing that the Department of Agriculture would provide states with information necessary for calculating the benefits due to each eligible household, which would allow states to then begin disbursements.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on X that her agency sent that guidance to states Tuesday morning, but warned it would be a "cumbersome process" that could result in a weeks-long delay in food stamp payments going out recipients.
"If the government opens, families get their FULL benefit much more quickly," she wrote.
Asked about Mr. Trump's comments by CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is "fully complying" with the court's order, but stressed that "it's going to take some time" for recipients to receive the payments.
"We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes, for war, and the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future," she said.
Leavitt said that in order for beneficiaries to receive their full benefits, Democrats need to vote to fund federal agencies and end the shutdown. Administration officials have said fully covering those allotments for November would require roughly $9 billion, but there is only about $4.6 billion in the contingency fund that can be used to cover this month's benefit payments.
"Democrats are holding it up and making it difficult for the administration to get those payments out the door," she said.
The government shutdown entered its 35th day Tuesday and is on track to become the longest in U.S. history later in the day, surpassing the lapse in federal funding that occurred during Mr. Trump's first term.
More than 42 million Americans rely on SNAP to purchase food each month. The program is funded by the federal government and administered by states, which distribute the nutrition assistance to eligible participants. But the Department of Agriculture said late last month that the food aid would not go out to recipients on Nov. 1 because "the well has run dry" amid the government shutdown.
The notice followed the Trump administration's decision not to use roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep the benefits flowing to Americans who rely on SNAP for November. The Department of Agriculture told states in a memo last month that the reserve funds were "not legally available to cover regular benefits."
Ahead of the cutoff of food benefits at the start of the month, a group of 25 states and the District of Columbia, and a coalition of municipalities and nonprofit organizations, filed two different lawsuits claiming the administration's decision to halt food stamp payments was illegal. They sought court orders requiring the Department of Agriculture to use the contingency fund for this month's benefits.
In one of the cases, U.S. District Judge John McConnell on Friday ordered the Trump administration to dip into the fund to cover the lapse in SNAP payments caused by the shutdown. The judge, who sits in Rhode Island, gave the government until Monday to file a status update about the distribution of the money.
In its filing with McConnell submitted Monday, the Justice Department said the Agriculture Department would comply with his order and "fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds today" by providing state agencies with information about reduced SNAP payments.
Patrick Penn, a Department of Agriculture official who oversees SNAP, said in a declaration that the administration "intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November 2025." He told the court there is roughly $4.6 billion in the reserve for the November payments, which would be used to cover half of eligible households' allotments.
But he warned the aid would likely not go out immediately because of possible "payment errors and significant delays" due to variations among state eligibility systems, which have to be adjusted for the reduced payments.
Lawyers for the nonprofits and municipalities have asked McConnell to issue a new order compelling the Trump administration to provide the full SNAP benefits.