Judge orders Trump administration to deliver full food assistance payments for 42M Americans by Friday
'People will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened and needless suffering will occur,' Judge John McConnell says in his ruling
File Photo - Volunteers prepare food packages for the needy at a food distribution event sponsored by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and volunteers at the Apostolic Church of Jesus on October 31, 2025 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are due to lapse on November 1 due to a lack of funding caused by the Federal government shutdown.
HOUSTON, United States
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration Thursday to deliver full food assistance payments for 42 million Americans by Friday, according to media reports.
US District Judge John McConnell from the state of Rhode Island ruled the government must make full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments to recipients in all states to ensure that poor families have food on their tables.
"The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened and needless suffering will occur," McConnell said in his ruling. "Last weekend, SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time in our nation’s history. This is a problem that could have and should have been avoided."
The judgement comes two weeks after chaos and confusion erupted during the ongoing -- and longest -- federal government shutdown in US history, when Trump threatened to withhold SNAP benefits, saying that the government's $5 billion contingency fund cannot be used during the government closure.
The Trump administration then agreed to pay partial SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, until the shutdown ended but said that those payments could take weeks to be delivered. The government said it would use $4.65 billion in contingency funds to cover about 65% of eligible households' benefits but declined to use additional funding set aside for child nutrition programs.
Advocacy groups filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, saying that the partial payments would not be enough to feed the tens of millions of poor Americans who depend on food stamps for survival.
The average American enrolled in the SNAP program receives $187 per month in food stamps issued on a prepaid card, with many families relying on that payment as their main source of money to buy food.
The lawsuits made emergency requests to expedite SNAP benefits and grant additional relief to those who depend on food stamps to make ends meet.
During Thursday's hearing, Trump administration attorneys said they had complied with the judge’s order and argued that the reason people have not received their SNAP benefits is that states have not distributed them.
Tyler Becker, counsel to the assistant attorney general, said the partial benefits were released to states on Monday and argued that "this is a state problem."
McConnell disagreed with that assessment, saying that the Trump administration "did nothing to ensure" that SNAP benefits would be delivered this week. He also ordered the government to use the funding for child nutrition programs, in addition to the contingency funds, to make sure payments are delivered in full to the 42 million Americans enrolled in the program.
