SAINT PAUL, Minn. — More than 440,000 Minnesotans will continue receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after a court on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use its contingency funds to keep the program running during the federal government shutdown.
The temporary restraining order, issued in response to a lawsuit co-led by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, requires the USDA to draw from over $5 billion in contingency funds to continue SNAP payments nationwide. The ruling affects roughly 42 million Americans who rely on the program, including 180,000 children, 67,000 seniors, and 52,000 people with disabilities in Minnesota.
The court found that the USDA “erroneously concluded” it could not use contingency funds to ensure SNAP payments continued and ordered the agency to use available resources to provide full benefits through November. It also directed the USDA to decide by Monday whether it will tap additional funds once the contingency reserve runs out.
Ellison said the ruling ensures that “hungry Minnesotans” and others nationwide will not lose food assistance during the shutdown. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 28, was co-led by the attorneys general of Minnesota, Arizona, California, and Massachusetts, with support from the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Governors from Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania also joined in supporting the legal challenge, which argues that Congress created the contingency fund specifically to maintain nutrition assistance during funding lapses.
