--- title: SNAP Benefits Set to Be Partially Paid: What You Should Know description: The Trump Administration said it will pay November food stamps benefits—in part. How much will beneficiaries receive, and when? canonical: https://time.com/7330673/snap-benefits-government-shutdown-food-stamps-trump/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-11-03T19:39:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:12:37.508Z article:section: Politics og:title: SNAP Benefits Set to Be Partially Paid: What You Should Know og:description: The Trump Administration said it will pay November food stamps benefits—in part. How much will beneficiaries receive, and when? og:url: https://time.com/7330673/snap-benefits-government-shutdown-food-stamps-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5bba43917d531e6/6998cb5547fe514ad055c38d/GettyImages-2244193864.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Florida Food Bank Hosts Food Giveaway Days Ahead Of Federal Food Assistance Funding Running Out Due To Gov't Shutdown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: SNAP Benefits Set to Be Partially Paid: What You Should Know twitter:description: The Trump Administration said it will pay November food stamps benefits—in part. How much will beneficiaries receive, and when? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5bba43917d531e6/6998cb5547fe514ad055c38d/GettyImages-2244193864.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Trump Administration Says It Will Pay November SNAP Benefits—In Part. Here's What That Means for Recipients > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3331bf3b-bb86-4435-a3b1-04fec2b330f5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: As SNAP Benefits Set to Run Out Amid Government Shutdown, Democratic and Republican Lawmakers Blame Each Other [Watch (HLS stream): As SNAP Benefits Set to Run Out Amid Government Shutdown, Democratic and Republican Lawmakers Blame Each Other](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ASMabTmy.m3u8) (3:37)  _Published 2025-10-29. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are set to start halting on Nov. 1, the one-month anniversary of the government shutdown, unless the Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement and reopen the government. SNAP, a federal initiative administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides vital assistance to low-income households, many of whom rely on the food stamps to purchase their weekly groceries._ by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Reporter Nov 3, 2025 7:39 PM UTC Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are set to start halting on Nov. 1, the one-month anniversary of the government shutdown, unless the Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement and reopen the government. SNAP, a federal initiative administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides vital assistance to low-income households, many of whom rely on the food stamps to purchase their weekly groceries. by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Reporter Nov 3, 2025 7:39 PM UTC The approximately 42 million Americans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will get partial payments this month, the Trump Administration announced, after [courts ruled](https://time.com/7330341/snap-benefits-food-stamps-government-shutdown-court-rulings/) the Administration could not halt the benefits as the government shutdown approaches its sixth week like it had intended. The Administration had previously said the food stamp payments relied on by millions of Americans would be cut off starting on Nov. 1, drawing stark [warnings](https://time.com/7328216/snap-benefits-food-stamps-halting-november-government-shutdown-impact/) from state governments, food banks, and experts. But in a court filing on Monday, it said it would partially fund the program with emergency funds—as two federal judges ruled late last week that it was required to do—though it is declining to use other funds that might have allowed for full payments. Here’s what to know about what’s happening in the courts, and what it means for SNAP recipients. ## **How the Trump Administration says it will fund the program** U.S. District Court Judge Jack McConnell on Friday ordered the Administration to use money from a $6 billion contingency fund to issue November SNAP payments at least in part. The Administration said in a [filing](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.60750/gov.uscourts.rid.60750.21.0.pdf) in response to that order that it will dip into the fund to partially fund the benefits. The Justice Department said it will “fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds today,” enabling states to “calculate the benefits available for each eligible household” and “begin disbursements.” In a separate [filing](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.60750/gov.uscourts.rid.60750.21.1.pdf), Department of Agriculture official Patrick Penn, who oversees SNAP, said $4.65 billion in contingency funds was available to be used for the November payments. The Administration will not tap other potential sources of funding, Penn added, saying it had considered drawing from funds for Child Nutrition Programs but determined they “must remain available” to prevent a shortfall for those programs, which he said “provide critical, nutritionally-balanced meals and food assistance benefits to millions of children every day.” ## **How much will SNAP beneficiaries receive, and when?** Penn said that “50% of eligible households’ current allotments” would be paid with the available contingency funds, indicating that millions of families could still be left short on critical aid. He also noted that "this means that no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely." It’s also not yet entirely clear when SNAP beneficiaries who are receiving payments will get them. McConnell’s written order from Saturday said the Department of Agriculture, which distributes the benefits, could either make full payments by Monday or partial payments by Wednesday. When asked during an interview on CNN on Sunday if benefits could be paid by Wednesday, as one of McConnell’s options, Treasury Secretary Bessent replied: “Could be.” Penn said in the court filing, however, that procedural issues could impact efforts to get households benefits “in a timely manner and in the correctly reduced amounts,” saying it was the Department of Agriculture’s understanding that some states might take “anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months” to make system changes required to provide the payments. ## Transcript And now, for the first time in history, a President Donald Trump is refusing to fund Snap during a shutdown. 42 million Americans, hungry children, middle class families who have just someone's lost a job, veterans, senior citizens who struggle to pay for their food. All of these people will lose their Snap benefits not because the money's gone, not because it's not permitted. Because Donald Trump ordered it stopped. Donald Trump is a vindictive politician and a heartless man. We know that there'll be 60 votes for that. Why aren't they calling it up? They're not calling it up because the house isn't here to pass it. That's the way it works. The house would have to come here. They probably would have to vote on the Epstein files. But they're choosing to let kids go hungry instead of having to vote on the Epstein files. There's no doubt about it. They have been out for six weeks on vacation. Just think, if they have all this money for Argentina and all this money for other things, they have enough money to keep funding snap and they know it. The Democrats are coming near now to a cliff that they will not be able to turn back from. And it's of great concern to everyone who's paying attention to all this. You will note that more air traffic controllers and TSA agents and park rangers are about to go without a paycheck. You've got families and children that rely upon Snap benefits that are going to go hungry here at the end of the week. You've got more critical workers, by the way, including the people who are the stewards of our nuclear defense arsenal, who are forced to stay at home as the government remains closed. The Democrats own every one of these consequences, and the Democrats have some soul searching to do. Are they going to continue to do that, or are they going to run from the far left and do their bidding, or are they going to do right by millions of federal workers in the American people who continue to show up to work daily without pay? Are they going to do right and reopen the government so that those people are taken care of, instead of the Marxist far left base in their party? That is the question. And we pray that Senate Democrats come to their senses before the situation becomes too dire on Saturday. This gets very real. Snap benefits will stop flowing to all those who need it. You're talking about tens of millions of Americans at risk of going hungry. If the Senate Democrats can continue this gambit instead of taking simple vote to fund the government, which Senate Democrats have now had more than a dozen opportunities to do, Democrat attorneys general are suing the federal government to try to compel Snap benefits to flow, despite the government being closed, and despite the fact that there is no money to do that, Congress hasn't authorized that the contingency fund for that was something they batted down. When the Democrats decided to vote against the CR and shut the government for Democrats, there's a much easier option on the table. Just go do your job and fully fund all these programs. We have very important work to do here, and that's why we're pleading with them, not Chuck Schumer. Look, I think Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are irredeemable at this point. I don't think they'll be able to tell in New York and his disciples that they voted to open the government. I've given up on the leadership. So we're trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people and will put the people's interests over their own and do the right thing in the Senate. I mean, there's no point in me sitting down with Chuck Schumer. He's painted himself into a corner. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7330673/snap-benefits-government-shutdown-food-stamps-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7330673/snap-benefits-government-shutdown-food-stamps-trump/"},"headline":"The Trump Administration Says It Will Pay November SNAP Benefits—In Part. 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