Dive Brief:
- The USDA said Friday in a memo that it has started issuing funds to states to fully cover SNAP benefits for November.
- The department said it is complying with a Rhode Island court order from Thursday directing it to fully fund SNAP benefits after it initially said it would only fund the program at around 50% for the month. The Trump administration filed an appeal on that same day stating it does not want to tap the full amount of emergency funds.
- The memo marks a significant move in a touch-and-go fight to restore funding to EBT cards amid the government shutdown.
Dive Insight:
The USDA’s move is happening even as the Trump administration continues to resist directives on how to fund SNAP during the government shutdown. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the Trump administration’s request to pause the Rhode Island judge’s order, ABC News reported.
“Later today, FNS will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmittal of full issuance files to your EBT processor,” the USDA memo said, referring to the Food and Nutrition Service, its agency that oversees SNAP.
Following the Thursday ruling, a handful of states said they told their SNAP vendors to issue full benefit amounts to program participants’ EBT cards.
The California governor’s office on Thursday said that “benefits are now beginning to be available on recipients’ cards.” The Oregon Department of Human Services said SNAP recipients in the state will see “100% of their November benefit amount” starting today. Similarly, Wisconsin’s website notes that full November SNAP benefits are now available.
The USDA had previously told states on Wednesday that, based on new calculations, it could fund 65% instead of half of SNAP benefits for November.
At the start of this week, a senior USDA official said in court filings that procedural challenges with recoding systems in order to partially dole out benefits would likely result in weeks or even months of delays. The Rhode Island judge, who had initially urged the federal government to fund SNAP even if it could only partially do so, noted that key reasons for the Thursday ruling were those expected delays as well as the availability of other emergency funds, which the USDA had said it didn’t want to use.
