Updated November 10, 2025 at 7:07 AM EST
States are scrambling — again — to figure out how to get food assistance to needy families without violating a U.S. Supreme Court order or crossing the Trump administration.
Trump administration officials on Saturday directed states to "immediately undo" any actions they have made to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
It's the latest in a hail of conflicting court orders and directives to states. Last week, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to immediately fully fund SNAP, accusing the government of holding back for "political purposes" and causing "needless suffering." The administration said it would send those payments, even as it appealed the order. Then, the Supreme Court on Friday granted a request to pause full payments while the appeals court considers the issue.
Now the administration is threatening that states that do send full payments to SNAP recipients may end up having to cover the costs themselves, and could also face financial penalties.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement Saturday that any such payments were "unauthorized" and sending full payments "may result in USDA taking various actions, including cancellation of the Federal share of State administrative costs and holding States liable for any over issuances that result from the noncompliance."
The USDA said states must continue to reduce the benefits they are sending by 35%, as the Trump administration had instructed states to do last week to comply with an earlier court order.
Rhode Island is one of several states that had already sent full benefits to SNAP recipients before the Supreme Court temporarily halted full payments.
In a statement Sunday, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee railed against President Trump, saying he "intentionally created chaos for states across the country — playing games with people's ability to feed their families, weaponizing hunger, and gaslighting the American people. It's inhumane."
McKee said he was working on contingency options "to protect Rhode Islanders against President Trump's volatility."
Even before the Trump administration threatened consequences for states that send full payments, some two dozen states, including Rhode Island, asked a federal judge in Massachusetts for protection.
In a brief filed Saturday, the states said they feared that the federal government "may attempt to recoup funds from the States that the States' residents have used to feed themselves and their families." That could amount to hundreds of million dollars, they said, and would "risk catastrophic operational disruptions for the States, with a consequent cascade of harms for their residents."
Trump administration officials did not respond to requests for comment.
But over the weekend, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins took to X to blame Democrats for the lapse in benefits, and railed against "activist judges" who have ordered "reckless and unconstitutional legal maneuvers" to force funding that Congress didn't appropriate. Speaking to Fox News, Rollins borrowed language from anti-Trump activists.
"It's interesting, the 'No Kings' rally, where they said 'we don't want a King in America,'" Rollins said. "Except now they want a king who can create money out of the clear blue sky."
Meanwhile, SNAP recipients remain in limbo, as do the organizations that serve them.
The Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington, W.V., has tripled the volume of food distributions that are usual this time of year, according to CEO Cynthia Kirkhart. People are struggling, she says, and all the uncertainty has just exacerbated their pain.
"The news comes out that we are going to get SNAP benefits. Then, we aren't going to get SNAP benefits. This is much worse. Folks get their hopes built up and then they crash. It's a lot," Kirkhart sighs. "We can do better."
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