President Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court to block an order requiring his administration to continue fully funding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
On Thursday, Trump asked the 1st Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals to allow him to pay only 65 percent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that 42 million Americans depend on to eat.
This would circumvent rulings from U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordering that the U.S. government tap into contingency funds and move government money around to fund SNAP in full.
In October, 25 states sued the Trump administration to continue paying SNAP benefits as the shutdown drags on. Judge McConnell ruled on Oct. 31 that the U.S. government must at least partially fund SNAP benefits until November 5, at which point it must begin paying the benefits in full.
He said the administration must tap into a $4.65 billion contingency fund as the government shutdown continues and figure out where to get the other $3.35 billion to achieve the $8 billion necessary to fund SNAP in full.
Though SNAP benefits have never lapsed in any prior government shutdown, including the 2018-2019 shutdown overseen by Trump, the current administration spent the first week of November coming up with excuses as to why it couldn’t comply with the court’s order.
On Monday, it told the court that it would pay 50 percent of the benefits through the contingency fund but not use any other money. On Wednesday, it said its review of available contingency funds meant it could pay 65 percent of SNAP benefits.
Plaintiffs in the case found this unacceptable, and on Thursday, Judge McConnell agreed, reiterating his demand that the USDA figure out how to get 100 percent of the benefits out.
“The court was clear that the administration had to either make the full payment by this past Monday, or it must ‘expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers,’ but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday, November 5th, 2025,” McConnell said.
“The record is clear that the administration did neither.”
The Trump administration has consistently signaled that it doesn’t want to pay SNAP benefits as the shutdown continues, and has offered a litany of excuses as to why.
Before a court ruled otherwise, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said it was legally impossible to tap into contingency funds that could fund SNAP while the government was shut down.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said funding SNAP would alleviate pressure on Democrats to sign the Republicans’ budget bill.
Trump said on Thursday that the government couldn’t feed 42 million hungry Americans because it had to remain “very liquid” in case of an emergency problems like “catastrophes” or “wars.”
“While the President of the United States professes a commitment to helping those it serves, the government’s actions tell a different story,” wrote McConnell.
