US Federal Judge John McConnell has ordered the Trump administration to give full food assistance payments to 42 million US citizens who would starved otherwise. Due to the government shutdown, there was chaos and confusion around the food benefits.
The government had decided to withhold the SNAP benefits, saying the $5 billion contingency fund can’t be used for the same during the shutdown. However, a judge from the state of Rhode Island has ruled that the citizens will receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments so that families low on funds can put food on their tables.
The judge said, “The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened, and needless suffering will occur. Last weekend, SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in our nation’s history. This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided.”
Federal judge just ordered the Trump administration to fully fund November SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans by Friday—after they ignored his first order and tried paying only 50%. EBT must be loaded 100% this weekend. pic.twitter.com/NINRPYKYPC
— Rain Drops Media (@Raindropsmedia1) November 6, 2025
This has also been the second-longest government shutdown, and the first one was during Trump‘s first term. Earlier the administration made a planned to pay only half the benefits with partial payments given the current government shutdown situation.
Moreover, the payments would have been delayed, taking weeks to send out. They also mentioned using the $4.65 billion contingency fund to cover payments for 65% of eligible households, but they refused to use the funds set for the child nutrition program.
According to the advocacy groups’ lawsuits over the partial payments, millions of poor citizens would not have been able to buy food, as they depend on food stamps to do so. On average, a person gets $187/month in food stamps and several families rely on it to survive.
District Judge McConnell has ordered the Trump administration to fully fund food stamps for roughly 42 million low-income Americans, after admonishing the delayed SNAP aid during the government shutdown saying, “The people have waited long enough.” https://t.co/bHZqDIkVPQ
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) November 6, 2025
The Trump administration attorney also argues that they have complied with the order and called the people not receiving SNAP benefits to be “the state’s problem,” saying they must not have distributed the funds.
Meanwhile, the federal judge, McConnell, said the administration did not do anything to ensure people receive SNAP benefits by this week. He disagreed with the Trump administration’s attorney and ordered them to fund a child nutrition program along with contingency funds.
According to this ruling, 42 million Americans will receive the payments. So far, this is the solution, but the crisis doesn’t stop here. Many people worry that they’ll lose SNAP benefits permanently for some reason. There’s also an argument about migrants getting more in benefits than the actual American citizens.
