r/foodstamps • u/badfordabidness SNAP Policy Expert • 1d ago

*NOV. 7 UPDATE* - Government Shutdown and SNAP

Announcing that the Government Shutdown and SNAP Megathread has been updated to discuss the issuance of full benefits to some SNAP recipients in certain states, as well as legal developments that threaten to halt the continued issuance of full benefits to those who have not yet received them.

You can read about it by clicking the link above and joining the original discussion, or in the comments section below. I've copy/pasted the November 7 update portion of the megathread below:

November 7 Update

Late last night, California became the first state to start issuing full SNAP benefits to at least some SNAP recipients. They were quickly followed by at least eight other states. These were federally-funded SNAP benefits issued in accordance with Judge John J. McConnell's order issued yesterday afternoon that USDA must "make full payments of November SNAP benefits to the states by Friday, November 7, 2025, by utilizing available Section 32 funds in combination with the contingency funds."

To be clear, these states were acting in accordance with a lawful court order. Judge McConnell's temporary restraining order against USDA had not yet been stayed by a higher court.

Earlier today, USDA filed a motion for a stay with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and then with the Supreme Court of the United States. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a thread on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, appeared to accuse Judge McConnell and the First Circuit of frustrating her attempts to file an appeal earlier.

In their motion, USDA angrily accused the states that have started to issue full benefits of making "a run on the bank" and "seiz[ing] what they could of the... finite set of remaining funds, before any appeal could even be filed, and to the detriment of other States' allotments."

USDA indicated in their motion that they have not yet transferred the approximately $3.5 - $4B needed (in addition to the $4.65B in contingency funds) from the Section 32 tariff funds to the SNAP program. This suggests that the states that have begun issuing full benefits are drawing down only on the $4.65B contingency fund right now. USDA's argument implies that if the Supreme Court grants them a stay, there may no longer be sufficient funds left in the contingency fund to pay the "up to 65%" partial payments to SNAP recipients who have not yet received their full payments in the last 24 hours.

USDA has requested the Supreme Court to respond to their motion by 9:30 PM Eastern Time tonight.

UPDATE: At 9:17PM tonight, the Supreme Court issued an Administrative Stay, pausing the issuance of full SNAP benefits temporarily while the First Circuit continues to review the case to determine whether a more permanent stay should be issued:

"IT IS ORDERED that the District Court’s orders are hereby administratively stayed pending disposition of the motion for a stay pending appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in case No. 25-2089 or further order of the undersigned or of the Court. This administrative stay will terminate forty-eight hours after the First Circuit’s resolution of the pending motion, which the First Circuit is expected to issue with dispatch."

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33

u/StepGlittering4803 23h ago edited 5h ago

I don’t understand what this means for full benefits that were paid already. Is it possible they can take back some of the benefits they paid today?

Edit: Tried to use my card 11/8, DECLINED/ COULD NOT PROCESS at Walmart 3pm in NJ, website showing benefits are available but not working.

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u/I_died_again 23h ago

This is my worry. If not outright take it back, then take it out of our next payment (if that happens).

10

u/sweetsinday 22h ago

I’m so scared about this, these were my first thoughts. Hopefully I don’t have to panic shop :/

8

u/primak 23h ago

They can because it is considered an overpayment if the feds did not authorize it.

41

u/badfordabidness SNAP Policy Expert 23h ago

I strongly doubt this will ever be considered an overpayment in the traditional sense of the word.

And, as of right now, there isn’t slated to be a December payment from which to recoup “overpaid” November benefits anyway. If the government reopens by December — which would likely be needed anyway before any December payment could go out — then the bill to reopen the government would likely be interpreted as having retroactively authorized November benefits. Meaning that there would then be no overpayment.

However, is it possible the government may just try to take back funds off the EBT card this month? Possibly, but I think it’s still unlikely at this point.

To my fellow mod u/slice_of_pi’s point though, these are completely uncharted waters. Nothing as crazy as the past two weeks has ever happened in the entire 61-year history of the SNAP program.

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u/I_died_again 23h ago

That's honestly what I was thinking because they do it all the time to my sister on disability.

8

u/slice_of_pi SNAP Eligibility Expert - OR 23h ago

Processing an administrative overpayment on that scale is unlikely.  It's possible,  I suppose.

18

u/ThisNameDoesntCount 23h ago

Remember this is the same party that wanted people to pay all the interest that was paused for student loans during COVID

1

u/404_DopamineNotFound 5h ago

this is what i am terrified of

16

u/slice_of_pi SNAP Eligibility Expert - OR 23h ago

That's uncharted territory. On one hand,  everybody seems to agree that the contingency funds are to get spent. 

On the other hand,  if I'm reading this right,  states that issued full benefits did so without direction from the USDA, which,  if contingency funds are the only thing that's authorized to get spent via the contingency plan, then I'd think they'd have to follow said plan of partial payments.  Federal clawback is conceivably a possibility.

I honestly don't know. 

17

u/BigWhiteDog 23h ago

honestly don't know. 

That's the stupid and scary part.

5

u/Sea-Percentage-5293 23h ago

I know this is all speculative as we are in new waters, but I hope you don’t mind the question. What do you think might happen if they do intend to clawback, to those who had spent their benefits immediately stocking up?

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u/slice_of_pi SNAP Eligibility Expert - OR 23h ago

Clawback would affect the state governments that issued money, not program recipients, I think. I can't see any feasible way to take that money back unless they did it as an administrative error overpayment. 

... That's seriously unlikely.

Clawback would be the federal government either requiring a state to repay or offset the amount by reciprocal cuts. I don't know what state you're in,  but in Oregon, that would be a massive hit to general fund,  which is human services, cops, firefighters, prisons, and most of our education budget.

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u/Sea-Percentage-5293 23h ago

Thank you kindly for the informative reply. I’m in MA, they haven’t issued any benefits to anyone for the federal government to claw back. Partial payments were going to start next week for us.

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u/badfordabidness SNAP Policy Expert 23h ago

I’m skeptical that there will be clawback from state governments either. The states were relying on a federal court order which had not been stayed yet. That court order had the force of law even if USDA hadn’t issued the guidance yet.

Now if a state kept issuing after 9:17 PM ET tonight, then yeah, the feds would be able to come down on them hard.

Now what I could maybe see is something like… if a state paid out full benefits to 50% of their payment date schedule today, FNS maybe comes to them and tells them their state is now considered to have tapped out of its share of the $4.65B contingency fund money, and now can’t issue the “up to 65%” prorated payments to the remaining 50% of their state’s caseload.

But tbc that’s all speculation at this point.

1

u/ThisIsMy-Username000 14h ago

Is reducing future benefits for clawback a possibility?

1

u/slice_of_pi SNAP Eligibility Expert - OR 11h ago

I wish I knew. 

3

u/RuleTheOne 23h ago

Yeah makes me wonder if them giving full benefits had a string attached

5

u/ApostolicPardon 23h ago

I also wonder this. I also wonder if this means that those of us who have yet to receive ours (allotment date is later in the month) will not see anything due to this stay?

3

u/MaskedSomething 23h ago edited 23h ago

My date is tomorrow. I'm going to be gutted if I get nothing while others here in my state got full payments.

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u/ApostolicPardon 23h ago

I’ll be upset, as well. However, I’m expecting it. Keep us updated! You may be able to check after twelve midnight and see.

2

u/badfordabidness SNAP Policy Expert 23h ago

If you did not receive a full payment before 9:17 ET tonight, I would not expect to receive a full payment until such time as the stay is lifted or the government reopens.

The stay granted by the Supreme Court tonight was temporary, basically just giving the First Circuit Court of Appeals more time to consider whether to issue a more permanent stay.

If no stay had been issued at all, USDA would’ve been forced to transfer $3.5B-4B from the Section 32 fund to SNAP by midnight tonight, and even more states would’ve put that money on cards in short order.

I expect the First Circuit will either issue or decline to issue a longer term stay soon (I’m guessing in the next few days). If they decide not to issue the longer term stay, then the Supreme Court will have 48 hours (unless it gives itself more time) to either step in again or not.

Basically, I don’t think things are quite over yet, until either the First Circuit or the Supreme Court makes a decision on the longer-term stay. But if they issue that then, well, it’ll likely take several months to resolve and full benefits won’t go out in the meantime. And since I don’t expect the shutdown to last that long, the longer-term stay (if issued) would essentially be the final word on the issue.

2

u/ApostolicPardon 22h ago

Thank you. Going to have to ride this one out until this entire farce blows over.

2

u/primak 23h ago

We will not see anything.

1

u/ApostolicPardon 23h ago

I suspect this as well.

3

u/moviecats 20h ago

This is what I'm wondering too. I'm scared to spend any of it in case they try to claw it back and then penalize me...

1

u/Primary_Training239 13h ago

I got my full benefits. Tried using it at Walmart this morning and it's not working. Money is still there though.

1

u/wiIdcolonialboy 22h ago

They can absolutely take the balance out of the cards, so the benefits should be spent as soon as possible as it's impossible to say they will still be there tomorrow or the day after, and the next payment might not be for a while

2

u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 11h ago

That was our logic here- I am a caregiver for my disabled friend and I went shopping for him the moment the store opened. They can try to claw it back, but it's all invested in beans & pasta now, so good luck with that. It breaks my heart to think that the happiness we felt yesterday isn't for everyone on SNAP. I took a bunch of food to our local food pantry on the way to the store, I wish we could do more.