The Trump administration said Monday it would provide partial payments to about 42 million food stamp recipients in November, though the White House warned the funds could take as long as months to reach households.
The move promised some eventual relief as the government shutdown nears a record for the longest impasse in the nation’s history.
The Trump administration, however, declined to use alternate funding that would have enabled the delivery of full SNAP benefits this month.
The move to partially fund SNAP could delay benefits as states calculate and distribute the food subsidies, and the smaller payment may only grant recipients days or weeks before they face the threat of going without food anew, experts told ABC News.
“The stress that families are facing throughout the country is tremendous, not knowing how they’re going to feed their families,” Colleen Heflin, a professor of public administration and international affairs at Syracuse University, told ABC News.
Here’s what to know about SNAP funding.
Is the Trump administration planning to provide SNAP benefits during the government shutdown?
Yes, the Trump administration said it plans to expend partial funds for food stamp recipients in November.
The emergency funding for SNAP will cover “50% of eligible households’ current allotments,” the Justice Department said in a court filing on Monday. The DOJ lawyers agreed to spend $4.65 billion on SNAP, which amounts to about half of the estimated $8 billion cost to fund SNAP in November.
In the court filing, the Justice Department vowed to spend money available in a contingency fund for SNAP, giving individual states the opportunity to “calculate the benefits available for each eligible household.”
The disclosure came after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for SNAP amid an ongoing government shutdown.
Will SNAP benefits be delayed?
Some SNAP recipients were due to receive funds in the first few days of November, meaning their benefits have already been delayed. The logistical challenge posed by a partial delivery of benefits is expected to delay payments further, though the timeline will likely vary from state to state, experts told ABC News.
Using emergency funds to pay for reduced SNAP benefits could take “a few weeks to up to several months,” a top U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official told a federal judge in a sworn court filing on Monday.
Since food stamps are administered at the state level, the USDA is expected to provide instructions to state agencies, which will then calculate the level of partial benefits for each recipient and provide those figures to be loaded onto the electronic cards used by families, Tracy Roof, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island who studies the food stamp program, told ABC News.
“The daunting part is that states have to go in and make this adjustment to their payment amounts,” Roof said, estimating the operational hurdle could range from several days to more than a week after a federal directive, depending on the state.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks alongside Donald Trump during a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House on September 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
How will SNAP benefits be funded during the government shutdown?
The Trump administration on Monday committed to spend SNAP funds available in an emergency account meant to aid families in the event of an interruption of the program.
That reserve of contingency funds carries a total of about $6 billion, according to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, putting the account well short of the $8 billion necessary to fully fund SNAP in November. The Trump administration said it would tap $4.65 billion in funds.
The Trump administration opted against drawing upon a larger pot of money set aside for child nutrition programs by the Department of Agriculture. This alternate fund holds about $30 billion, far exceeding roughly $3 billion per month needed to fund the relevant child nutrition payments, David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, told ABC News.
The pot of money has built sizable reserves due to annual surpluses and an arrangement for the fund to share in a portion of tariff revenue, Super added.
“The Trump administration could transfer enough money over to SNAP to pay for full benefits in November without any conceivable risk to child nutrition,” Super said, adding that the fund could likely also support full benefits in December “without breaking a sweat.”
How long will partial SNAP funding hold over families?
The partial SNAP funding will amount to roughly half of a family’s typical monthly benefit, though the exact total could vary depending on the state and characteristics of a given beneficiary, experts said.
Those partial benefits are expected to last recipients about two weeks, some experts said, noting the program could hold over families in the event of a speedy resolution of the government shutdown.
“But it’s certainly a lot of anxiety because people won’t know when they might expect to get the rest of the money,” Roof said.
Most states provide SNAP benefits on a staggered basis, meaning a portion of the recipients gain access at the outset of the month while others follow over the ensuing days or weeks. In turn, some recipients likely still retain benefits from October while others could be forced to go without funds during the current delay, the experts added.
Could states make up for the loss of federal SNAP funding?
Experts cast doubt on the capacity for state governments or philanthropic organizations to make up for the full shortfall in SNAP benefits. But some states, such as Virginia, have vowed to provide a comparable subsidy.
“States may legally be allowed to make up the lost funds but they haven’t been given a guarantee it will be reimbursed to them even after the government reopens,” Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University, told ABC News.
Super, of Georgetown, noted that the financial burden of the food stamp payments would be significant for state governments.
“Fiscally, it’s a lot of money and I think the states would find it difficult to do,” Super said. “And operationally, there would be various steps that would need to be taken to make that happen, which some states are probably set up to do better than others.”
