The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notified states that it would fulfill obligations to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November, just hours after the Trump administration appealed a ruling requiring the payments to be made.
In a memo to state agencies on Friday, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service said it was "working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances in compliance with the November 6, 2025, order from the District Court of Rhode Island."
"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 memo stated.
Earlier on Friday, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to pause a ruling from U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island that said the government must make full SNAP payments for November by Friday at 5 p.m.
“People have gone without for too long,” McConnell said in his Thursday ruling. “Not making payments to them for even another day is simply unacceptable.”
The Trump administration previously claimed that partial SNAP payments would be made in November due to the government shutdown.
President Donald Trump later insisted that the benefits would only resume when "the Radical Left Democrats open up government."