by Jacob Fischler, Kansas Reflector
November 9, 2025
Following a late Friday emergency ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration has instructed states that authorized full November nutrition assistance benefits to return a portion, another unprecedented reversal for a program that helps 42 million people afford groceries.
A Saturday memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service said states should fund 65% of benefits for users of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, often called food stamps.
Those that had authorized full payments in line with earlier administration guidance should “immediately undo” that action, according to the memo.
“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” the memo said. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025. Please advise the appropriate FNS Regional Office representative of steps taken to correct any actions taken that do not comply with this memorandum.”
President Donald Trump and top administration officials have said they cannot pay full SNAP benefits during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1 and instead, under court orders, are using a contingency fund to make partial payments.
Shutdown chaos surrounds SNAP
Saturday’s guidance from Patrick A. Penn, the department’s deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, marked the latest turnaround in a chaotic few days for the agency, states that administer SNAP and the millions of Americans who depend on it to afford food.
Penn wrote that, in light of the Supreme Court’s order pausing lower court rulings that USDA must pay full November benefits, the administration was returning to its position that SNAP benefits should be funded at 65%.
States — including Wisconsin and Kansas — that issued full benefits did so under a Friday memo, also signed by Penn, that said states should authorize full payments for SNAP, consistent with a Thursday ruling in federal court.
Kansas, Wisconsin govs express dismay
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, in a late Friday statement expressed disappointment with the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court and noted the state had authorized full payments earlier in the day for all eligible Kansans.
“These Kansans, most of them children, seniors or people with disabilities, were struggling to put food on their plates,” she said. “Why the President would petition the highest court to deny food to hungry children is beyond me. It does nothing to advance his political agenda. It does not hurt his perceived enemies. It only hurts our most vulnerable and our reputation around the globe.”
In a Sunday statement, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, flatly refused to try to claw back any authorized benefits. The state acted in compliance with a court order, he said.
“After we did so, the Trump Administration assured Wisconsin and other states that they were actively working to implement full SNAP benefits for November and would ‘complete the processes necessary to make funds available,’” he said. “They have failed to do so to date.”
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement: “Let’s be clear about what this is — the Trump administration is demanding that food assistance be taken away from the households that have already received it. They would rather go door to door, taking away people’s food, than do the right thing and fully fund SNAP for November so that struggling veterans, seniors, and children can keep food on the table. It is incomprehensible, incompetent and inconsistent with our values as Americans.”
Court action
The earlier order, from U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island, told the department to use sources outside the contingency fund to make full November payments by Friday. The order was appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, acting on behalf of the high court, granted the administration’s request for an emergency stay on Friday night, speeding up the process for what Jackson said would then be an “expeditious” decision by the appeals court but also changing things yet again.
No longer, for the moment, required by a court order to pay full November benefits, the administration instructed states in the Saturday memo to have the vendors that process payments to the electronic benefit transfer cards withhold part of the month’s allotment.
“States must not transmit full benefit issuance files to EBT processors,” Penn wrote. “Instead, States must continue to process and load the partial issuance files that reflect the 35 percent reduction of maximum allotments detailed in the November 5 guidance.”
Shutdown negotiations
SNAP funding has been a key issue during the shutdown.
In a plan published Sept. 30, the USDA said it would continue to pay for the roughly $9 billion per month program through its contingency fund. The administration reversed itself 10 days later, telling states there would be no SNAP available for November.
A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill filed Sunday would end the shutdown. It includes provisions to fully fund SNAP, the contingency fund and the $23 billion children nutrition programs fund that may be a source of emergency funding for SNAP if the shutdown persists.
Kansas Reflector Editor in Chief Sherman Smith and Wisconsin Examiner Editor in Chief Ruth Conniff contributed to this report.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.
