USDA announces no SNAP benefits will be paid in November because of the shutdown; the contingency fund Congress set up for this purpose remains untouched.

The Department of Agriculture, on Sunday, announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food assistance program known as SNAP serving approximately 42 million Americans, would not issue benefits for the month of November on account of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The legal posture of this decision is the part to attend to.

Congress, in the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bill, established a $6 billion contingency fund within the SNAP appropriation, available through September 30, 2026. The statutory text governing the fund describes it as available, by its terms, to maintain SNAP benefit issuance in the event of an appropriations lapse. The fund was created, by Congress, specifically to address the scenario the country is currently in.

The administration’s announced position, as articulated by USDA leadership and the Office of Management and Budget: the contingency fund cannot be used to maintain regular benefit issuance. It can be used only for “true emergencies,” which the administration declined to define on the record. By the administration’s reading, a thirty-day shutdown affecting 42 million enrolled recipients does not meet that threshold.

The state attorneys general who would file suit on Tuesday, October 28, in a coalition led by California, New York, and Minnesota, will argue, with citations to the appropriations text, that the administration’s reading is incorrect on its face. A federal district court will agree with them on October 31. A second federal judge will order full benefits restored on November 6. The administration will appeal. The Supreme Court will grant a temporary administrative stay. Litigation will continue into the second week of November.

The number of households that depend on SNAP for monthly food costs, in October 2025, is approximately 22 million. The average monthly benefit per recipient is approximately $187. The fund Congress established was sufficient to issue partial November benefits without further appropriation.

A serious country, having designed a contingency fund, draws on the contingency fund.

A country that does otherwise has, in writing, articulated a different priority.

Calmly documenting the decline.