With the federal government shutdown over after 43 days (an all-time record), employees are returning to work and agencies and programs are attempting to get back to the normalcy they experienced until September 30.
However, putting all the toothpaste back in the tube will take some transition time, and one of the Department of Agriculture’s foundational programs – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – will continue to be impacted even though the House, Senate and President Trump have approved the new spending package.
While some of the nearly 42 million Americans could receive their funded November EBT cards within 24 hours after the bill became law on November 12, others will have to wait longer.
According to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, “We, immediately last night (November 12) began moving out, making sure that the program continues unabated, starting once the government reopened, and hopefully by the end of this week, most will receive it at the very latest on Monday (November 17),” Rollins said during an appearance on CNN. “But keep in mind, the SNAP program is funded by the federal government, but it is the 50 states and 50 different infrastructures that move that money out, which is what made it so complicated, the patchwork,” she added.
The food assistance program (formerly known as food stamps) reaches about 12 percent of Americans monthly.
SNAP become one of the flashpoints during the shutdown with states filing multiple lawsuits seeking that the Federal government reinstate those monthly assistance payments. Most states in the Northeast also fully or partially funded those benefits from their own coffers while also providing direct food assistance to food banks and non-profit pantries.
Additionally, during the shutdown, the USDA said it couldn’t legally use the nearly $6 billion the government has in a contingency fund. And even though several judges instructed federal government to restore SNAP payments, President Trump, who first agreed to comply, changed his mind and filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted the appeal.
The high court said the administration didn’t have to immediately pay full SNAP food benefits in a temporary order, giving an appeals court more time to fully consider Trump’s request which became moot after the spending package was signed.
The recently signed bill will keep the government open through January 30, but a clause in the bill will allow SNAP payments to be paid until September 30, the end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year.
The short-term news is encouraging for those individuals who are eligible for SNAP benefits and retailers who depend on food stamp revenue as part of their volume, but the long-term realities are more sobering.
As part of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July, an estimated $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034 will be cut. Moreover, new restrictions to the program were added, most notably expanding work requirements. Specifically, able-bodied individuals without dependents are required to work at least 80 hours per month if they are aged between 18 and 65 years old to receive benefits. The bill also eliminated the ability for states to temporarily extend benefits beyond three months in areas with an unemployment rate over 10 percent or an insufficient number of jobs.
