The Trump administration asked an appeals court to pause an order requiring the federal government to fully fund food snaps for November.
“Congress has failed to appropriate funds to pay for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (‘SNAP’) benefits for this fiscal year,” the motion says. “Even after exhausting the entirety of the SNAP contingency reserve—a step that the Department of Agriculture (‘USDA’) took earlier this week in response to a temporary restraining order issued by the district court— there is only enough money to pay partial November SNAP benefits. This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action.”
Criticizing Judge John McConnell Jr., the Trump administration said the “unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers.”
“Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend,” the filing asserts. “Courts are charged with enforcing the law, but the law is explicit that SNAP benefits are subject to available appropriations.”
The Trump administration’s motion follows McConnell’s order that the government “make full SNAP payments to the States by Friday, November 7, 2025, by utilizing available Section 32 funds in combination with the contingency funds.”
McConnell also complained about President Trump declaring on Truth Social that SNAP benefits will be provided “only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
The judge previously ruled on November 1 that the “use of those contingency funds has now become required because available funding is necessary to carry out the program operations, i.e., to pay citizens their SNAP benefits.”
