The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday it will use contingency reserves to pay approximately half of November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In a supplementary declaration filed in Rhode Island federal court, Patrick A. Penn, Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at USDA, confirmed the agency will allocate the remaining $4.65 billion in SNAP contingency funds to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments for November 2025. The decision comes in response to court orders from federal judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts mandating the agency restore benefits during the ongoing government shutdown.

At the beginning of fiscal year 2026, the Food and Nutrition Service held $6 billion in SNAP contingency funds, Penn stated in his declaration. However, the agency already obligated $450 million in October for state administrative expenses and an additional $300 million for Nutrition Assistance Program block grants for Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

For November, FNS will allocate another $450 million for state administrative expenses and $150 million for Puerto Rico and American Samoa nutrition programs, leaving $4.65 billion for benefit payments. This amount will cover approximately 50% of eligible households’ normal benefits but falls significantly short of the estimated $8 billion to $9 billion needed for full monthly SNAP payments.

Penn’s filing revealed that USDA carefully considered but ultimately rejected using Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds to supplement SNAP payments, despite federal judges suggesting this option. The agency would need at least $4 billion from those funds to provide full November SNAP benefits.

“Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds are not a contingency fund for SNAP,” Penn stated. “Using billions of dollars from Child Nutrition for SNAP would leave an unprecedented gap in Child Nutrition funding that Congress has never had to fill with annual appropriations, and USDA cannot predict what Congress will do under these circumstances.”​​

Section 32 refers to a mandatory appropriation that receives 30% of customs receipts from the prior calendar year, with the bulk directed to Child Nutrition Programs including the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, Summer Food Service Program, and Summer EBT. Approximately 29 million children receive nutritionally balanced lunches daily through the National School Lunch Program alone.​

For fiscal year 2026, approximately $23 billion in Section 32 funds were transferred to FNS for Child Nutrition Programs. Transferring $4 billion to SNAP would create a permanent funding shortfall for the entire fiscal year, as another infusion of Section 32 funds will not occur until FY27. Congress would need to appropriate an additional $4 billion beyond the estimated $13.2 billion already required to fully fund Child Nutrition Programs for FY26.

“Amid this no-win quandary and upon further consideration following the Courts’ orders, USDA has determined that creating a shortfall in Child Nutrition Program funds to fund one month of SNAP benefits is an unacceptable risk, even considering the procedural difficulties with delivering a partial November SNAP payment, because shifting $4 billion dollars to America’s SNAP population merely shifts the problem to millions of America’s low income children that receive their meals at school,” Penn explained.​​

The agency previously transferred $300 million in Section 32 funds to support the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in October, but Penn noted the magnitude of amounts differs significantly from what would be needed for SNAP.

Penn warned of “procedural difficulties” that states will likely experience in distributing reduced benefits. State agencies must recode eligibility systems to adjust for reduced maximum allotments, a process that varies significantly depending on state infrastructure.​​

The agency issued revised issuance tables to state agencies on November 3, 2025, which states will use to calculate benefits for each eligible household. However, given that some state systems are decades old, it remains unclear how many states will complete changes through automated processes versus manual overrides that could lead to payment errors and significant delays.

States must also notify all SNAP households of the reduction and handle requests for fair hearings related to the benefit cuts.

The declaration came in response to lawsuits filed by the Rhode Island State Council of Churches and other organizations in Rhode Island federal court, as well as a separate lawsuit led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and three governors.​

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island issued orders on October 31 and November 1 directing USDA to use contingency funds immediately and, if those funds proved insufficient, to consider using Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds or other sources to provide full November benefits. McConnell gave the administration until Monday, November 4, to provide full payments or until Wednesday, November 5, to provide partial payments.​

In Massachusetts federal court, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani similarly ruled that USDA’s plan to suspend SNAP was unlawful and directed the agency to report by Monday on its compliance plans.​

Both judges rejected USDA’s argument that contingency funds could not legally be used during a lapse in regular appropriations. 

Approximately 42 million Americans across the nation rely on SNAP benefits, which average $187 per person monthly. Nearly 39% of SNAP recipients are children and teenagers under age 18. In Massachusetts alone, more than one million residents depend on the program.​

SNAP benefits are available to individuals whose income falls below 130% of the federal poverty threshold, which translates to $1,632 monthly for a single-person household and approximately $2,800 for a four-person household in many regions. For fiscal year 2025, a family of four cannot have net income exceeding approximately $32,000 annually.​

The government shutdown began October 1, 2025, when the new federal fiscal year started without congressional appropriations. USDA initially sent letters on October 10 and October 24 directing states to hold November issuance files and suspend all November 2025 benefit allotments.​

Several states have announced emergency measures to bridge the funding gap, including providing expedited funding to food banks and implementing temporary state-funded benefit programs. 

The USDA declaration makes clear that after November’s partial payments, the SNAP contingency fund will be completely depleted.