WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use a contingency fund to pay recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), one day before the program's funding was set to run out.
John McConnell, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said that the department must fund SNAP with a contingency fund, adding that if the contingency fund proves insufficient, it must draw on other available resources to ensure payments are made.
"There is no doubt that the six billion dollars in contingency funds are appropriated funds that are without a doubt necessary to carry out the program's operation," McConnell said in an oral ruling.
The Trump administration previously claimed that it lacked legal authority to tap the 5 to 6 billion dollars in emergency funds to cover at least a portion of SNAP, which needs over 8 billion dollars to fund benefits for November.
Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy group that represented a coalition of plaintiffs, celebrated the ruling in a statement.
"Today's ruling is a lifeline for millions of families, seniors, and veterans who depend on SNAP to put food on the table. It reaffirms a fundamental principle: no administration can use hunger as a political weapon," the group said.
Also on Friday, a federal judge in Boston said in a separate case that the Trump administration's plan to withhold SNAP benefits starting Nov. 1 amid the federal government shutdown was likely "unlawful," though the judge did not mandate that the administration release the funds.
"Plaintiffs have standing to bring this action and are likely to succeed on their claim that Defendants' suspension of SNAP benefits is unlawful," wrote District Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts.
"The court will allow Defendants to consider whether they will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November, and report back to the court no later than Monday, November 3, 2025," she wrote in her finding.
SNAP is the nation's largest anti-hunger program serving nearly 42 million people. Most SNAP recipients live at or below the federal poverty line.
The U.S. federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 when Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a funding bill, has shown little sign of ending soon. ■