Name: Judges say Trump admin must pay some SNAP benefits during shutdown
Uploaded: 2025-10-31T20:09:27.764Z
Duration: 3 min 2 s
Description: A pair of judges weighed in on cases related to food assistance for millions of Americans. One judge said the federal government must use contingency funds to make payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the government shutdown drags on for more than 30 days.

A pair of judges weighed in on cases related to food assistance for millions of Americans. One judge said the federal government must use contingency funds to make payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the government shutdown drags on for more than 30 days.

Washington

Two federal judges have ruled that the U.S. government must continue to provide at least partial funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown. The rulings come after more than two dozen Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration over the suspension of these benefits.

The judges issued temporary restraining orders, requiring the federal government to use contingency funds to keep SNAP operational. While these orders are not final rulings, they mean that millions of Americans who rely on SNAP should continue to receive some benefits, although appeals are expected and could impact the distribution of funds.

Judges say Trump admin must pay some SNAP benefits during shutdown

Two federal judges have ruled the government must continue to fund SNAP. The federal food assistance program was set to be frozen tomorrow as the government shutdown stretches into November. But more than two dozen Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration over suspending the benefits. CBS News Legal Contributor Jessica Levinson joins us now to discuss. So Jessica, these judges say the federal government needs to use contingency funds to keep SNAP up and running. Can you break that down for us? Absolutely. There was a question as to whether or not the federal government was mandated based on the terms of the statute to continue to provide the SNAP benefits even though we are in a government shutdown and no new budget has been passed. We now have two different district court judges looking at the statutes and saying that they believe the fact that there are contingency funds there and looking at, again, the language of the statute indicates that the federal government must provide at least partial funding for these programs. We should remind everybody that these are temporary restraining orders, meaning this is not a final ruling on the merit. Both judges are looking at who's likely to succeed, where there will be an irreparable risk of harm if you do or don't grant this emergency relief. And what we're seeing is, in one case, the judge is saying, federal government, I think you need to pay, let me know by Monday. In another case, a judge is saying something very similar, which is, you need to pay, essentially tell me by Monday that you did. But both of them globally reaching the same conclusion. And so what do we expect to happen in the next few days? Appeals. And the question is whether or not these decisions will be put on pause while these cases are appealed. Obviously, we're talking about a situation where people may not be able to access these benefits. So when you're thinking about why do you typically grant emergency relief, one of the things you look at is who could be harmed, again, by granting or not granting the relief. I think that that will weigh heavily in favor of trying to get some money to people who, again, would otherwise be denied the benefits while these cases are appealed, but it's not a guarantee. So if one of those 42 million Americans who would be impacted is watching this now, how would you say these rulings will affect whether or not they can get those benefits tomorrow or Sunday or Monday or the next day after that? So I would say these great question, these trial court rulings indicate that the one in eight Americans who rely on these benefits should be able to get at least partial benefits. Having said that, we know these rulings will be appealed. So what we need to look at in the next hours is whether these temporary restraining orders or in one case, almost granting the temporary restraining order, whether or not they're paused while the cases are appealed, that could mean people will not get benefits, at least for a temporary period of time. Okay.

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