Some of the 41.7 million Americans who rely on the paused Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could receive payments as soon as 24 hours after the longest government shutdown in history ends as lawmakers sign off on a spending bill.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, provides cash cards known as Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) to approximately 12% of Americans for a limited time to help purchase basic food items. Households at or below 130% of the poverty line generally qualify for assistance, with a large number of recipients being elderly, disabled or children.

The nutrition program became a flash point in the battle between lawmakers, resulting in an unprecedented disruption to payments and a litany of court rulings.

The spending package, which is expected to be passed by the House on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and signed by President Donald Trump in the evening, will restore full funding to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP. However, this doesn't mean that participants can expect to see payments immediately after its passage.

What's going on with SNAP benefits in court?

SNAP has been caught in a series of legal challenges and funding disruptions over the last few weeks due to the congressional impasse. For the first time in the food stamp program’s 60-year history, funding lapsed on Nov. 1, launching a scramble to try to keep benefits flowing.

A few days before the lapse, the USDA said it couldn’t use the roughly $6 billion of contingency funds to pay for SNAP, despite the agency having used them in at least two previous shutdowns and having detailed plans to use them in a later-deleted contingency plan on the USDA website, dated Sept. 30.

In late October, 25 states, plus Washington, DC, filed lawsuits in federal courts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island attempting to force the Trump administration to fund November SNAP benefits. Both courts deemed withholding the funds to be unlawful and instructed the USDA to pay out the benefits.

Initially, the Trump administration agreed to comply, but later stated that it only had enough money to partially fund the program. Rhode Island federal Judge John McConnell, however, instructed the USDA on Nov. 6 to pay benefits in full by Friday, Nov. 7, to which the Trump administration filed a last-minute appeal with the Supreme Court to block.

Shortly after the administration's request, the Supreme Court granted it. The high court said the administration didn't have to immediately pay full SNAP food benefits in a temporary order called an "administrative stay," giving an appeals court more time to fully consider Trump's request.

The USDA then instructed states that had already begun distributing benefits to "undo" the payments and take them back on Nov. 9, a demand that was blocked in federal court on Nov. 10.

When an end to the shutdown came into view, the Supreme Court on Nov. 11 again declined to order the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP food benefits, giving Congress time to resolve the issue through a pending deal to end the government shutdown instead.

What does the spending package say about SNAP?

The proposed spending package to end the shutdown includes a bill that would fund the USDA through the end of the fiscal year 2026. This includes restoring funding for SNAP through September 2026.

Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," passed in July, however, cut an estimated $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It also added new restrictions to the program, including expanding work requirements. Under the bill, 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. Previously, before Trump's bill, the top age was 55.

Veterans, people who recently aged out of foster care and unhoused people are no longer exempt from work requirements. It also eliminated the ability for states to temporarily extend benefits beyond three months in areas with an unemployment rate over 10% or an insufficient number of jobs.

The bill significantly restricts benefits to apply only to certain lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens, as well as eliminates eligibility for others legally present in the United States, including those who have qualified for conditional entry under the asylum and refugee laws or based on urgent humanitarian reasons like survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking.

States are also now responsible for up to 15% of benefit costs, depending on the payment error rate, and are saddled with increased administrative costs from 50% to 75%.

When will SNAP benefits be paid out after the government reopens?

While the government shutdown could technically be "over" by Thursday, Nov. 12, how long it will take for everything from flights to benefits payments to go back to normal depends on how states handle funds after they are released by the USDA.

The USDA told USA TODAY on Wednesday evening that upon the government reopening, payments should resume within 24 hours for most states.

At least 16 states already released full benefit amounts over the weekend before the SCOTUS rulings, according to research by the Food Research and Action Center. Another 13 issued or began issuing partial or mixed payments.

Jessica Garon, a spokesperson for the American Public Human Services Association, told the Associated Press that most states will be able to issue full benefits within three days after they’re given the green light. Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, meanwhile, told USA TODAY that while she hopes the USDA will release funds immediately, people could start to receive them quickly, in a few days, or even a week, depending on the state. Complications could arise for those who have already issued partial payments that now need to be rounded out, as USDA official Patrick Penn previously told courts that it would likely take states days, weeks or even months to reprogram their systems and work with contractors to enable partial payments.

There is no national distribution date for SNAP benefits, even when the federal government is functioning as usual. While the first of the month is often associated with the payment of government benefits, payment dates differ by state. Even within states, the dates vary by recipient, with some using Social Security numbers, last names or case numbers to determine who receives money on which day of the month.

The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for information on the distribution of SNAP benefits after the shutdown ends.

For those looking for answers on when their benefits will come, your state government is the best place to turn. The departments of health and human services, family and social services, disability services, or similar agencies in your state will have the most updated information about SNAP payments.

Contributing: Sarah Wire, Maureen Groppe, Kathryn Palmer/ USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When will SNAP benefits resume? What we know as shutdown nears end

Reporting by Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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