Rulings Require the Use of Emergency Reserves to Sustain Food Aid

Two federal judges ruled Friday that the Trump administration must continue funding the nation’s largest food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , by drawing from emergency reserves during the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The rulings — issued nearly simultaneously in Massachusetts and Rhode Island — direct the administration to use contingency funds to sustain the $8 billion-per-month program, which provides benefits to roughly one in eight Americans . Both judges gave the government limited discretion over whether to fund SNAP fully or partially for November, but warned that the shutdown would still cause delays for millions of recipients.

SNAP is a cornerstone of the

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