Many Americans who rely on SNAP benefits to help buy groceries are approaching their third week without aid after President Donald Trump’s administration cut off the program amid the federal government shutdown.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday opted not to order the government to fully fund a program that serves about 1 in 8 Americans, staying out of a legal debate on whether lower courts were right to make such an order — and keeping uncertainty in place about when millions of people will see their benefits.
But the U.S. House could send Trump legislation as soon as Wednesday to end the shutdown, a move that would also restore full SNAP funding for November, ending a bitter legal battle.
Here are things to know about how it could go.
When SNAP funds become available could vary by state
Seesawing court rulings and messages from the USDA, which administers SNAP, have meant that beneficiaries in some states already have received their full monthly allocations while in others they have received nothing. Some states have issued partial payments.
States say it’s faster to provide full benefits than it is to do the calculations and computer programming required for partial amounts.
At least 19 states plus the District of Columbia issued full benefits to at least some recipients last week, an Associated Press tally found. Among those are Minnesota and New Jersey. Many of them managed to do it in a day or so, in the narrow window between the Nov. 6 court ruling that required the federal government to make full payments and one Nov. 7 from the U.S. Supreme Court that stopped it.
Carolyn Vega, a policy analyst with the advocacy group Share Our Strength, said she expects most SNAP participants who haven’t received anything in November so far — states in that group include South Carolina and West Virginia — to receive their benefits within about a week.
But there’s a complication. So far, 16 states — including Illinois and Texas — have loaded the EBT cards used in SNAP with partial benefits. Vega said some of those states might run into some technical hurdles to issue the remaining amount.
Delays in benefits can be a problem for recipients
Even if there’s some clarity that benefits are on the way, exactly when they arrive will matter to millions of Americans.
About 42 million lower-income Americans receive the food aid, with average benefits of about $190 monthly per person. Many have said that even with careful budgeting, the benefit doesn’t cover the full cost of groceries in a regular month — nor are they intended to for most recipients.
It’s worse when benefits are delayed.
Doretha Washington, 41, of St. Louis, and her husband have themselves and six children to feed and not enough money to cover that cost. Her husband works servicing heating and cooling systems, but the family still needs SNAP to get by. They had received nothing in November, although Missouri said Tuesday that partial benefits were being issued.
“Now it’s making things difficult because we can’t pay our bills in full and keep food in here,” Washington said earlier this week. “I’m down to three days of food and trying to figure out what to do.”
She’s resorted to rationing what they have on hand.
Other people have turned to food charities, but are sometimes finding long lines and low supplies.
Cutting off funds left state governments scrambling
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP, told states on Oct. 24 that it would not fund the program for November if the shutdown continued.
That left states scrambling. Most Democratic-led ones eventually sued, seeking to have the money restored.
Some states — both Democratic and Republican-led ones — launched efforts to pay for SNAP benefits using state money, boost food banks and deploy the National Guard to help with food distribution. Another group of states used their money allotted for SNAP benefits only after a judge ordered the Trump administration to cover the full cost for the month.
The legislation to reopen the government passed by the Senate on Monday calls for states to be reimbursed for spending their funds to run programs usually paid for by the federal government.
It’s not immediately clear, though, which situations might qualify in the case of SNAP.
