USDA Cuts SNAP Food Assistance Payments for November

Volunteers assist in loading a vehicle during a food distribution in October in San Antonio, aimed at federal employees and SNAP recipients. Photo by Eric Gay/AP

Almost five million SNAP food assistance recipients will not receive any payments in November under a new plan, announced by the administration on Tuesday after a court ruling. This is the takeaway of an analysis showing significant implications for many families.

In its findings, the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that the size of the payments could have been more deeply cut – but the current constraints come on the back of a federal government shutdown.

On Monday, the government said that partial payments this month would still be made using the program’s reserve fund, after two federal courts ordered so. The court also allowed the government to redirect other funds to SNAP, but the administration declined, citing risks to other nutrition programs.

In the court filing, the agency noted that $4.65 billion in emergency funds “will be used to cover 50% of current payments for eligible households” and that states will be told by what percentage maximum payments will be reduced. Full payments for November are expected to be about $8.2 billion.

The Core of the November Payment Reduction Plan

First, the USDA plan foresees providing about $3 billion in payments, which would lead to an average decrease in payments of nearly 61% for the month. A maximum cut of 43% is considered sufficient to stay within available funds.

In the calculations, USDA leadership halves both minimum and maximum payments, but because of the calculation method this leads to a deeper fall in average and total payments.

Under the formula, 30% of a household’s monthly net income must be subtracted from the maximum payment depending on family size. Most households have some income and do not receive the maximum payment.

For example, a single mother with two children and no income would receive $392 in November – that is half of the usual maximum payment – under the USDA plan. More than a third of households receive the maximum payment.

A household with a monthly income of $900 will receive $122 instead of the usual $515, and with an income of $1,500 there will be no payments at all this month instead of the usual $335.

About 55% of households with a certain income level that do not fall under either the maximum or the minimum payment will lose more than half of their total payments. Overall, about 42 million Americans are enrolled in the SNAP program.

The minimum payment is also halved from $24, which, according to the center, violates SNAP rules that require paying a minimum when maximum payments are reduced by at least 90%. The minimum payment depends on household size: only one or two members of the household are supposed to receive it.

“By cutting payments even deeper than necessary, the administration – which previously claimed (in violation of federal law and its own prior practice) that SNAP reserves could not be used to cover regular payments – has once again taken a step to inflict additional harm on low-income families”

Media explanations indicate that the analysis was considered in the context of broader policy. The current schedule for partial payments depends on the state: states will have to reorganize their systems taking into account reduced payments, which could take weeks – and sometimes months, according to a senior USDA official in court documents.

In North Carolina and Massachusetts, recipients are expected to receive payments next week, according to state announcements.

Pennsylvania on Wednesday sent a written appeal to USDA noting that the agency had chosen the “most complicated and labor-intensive” path for delivering partial payments.

Rebuilding the state’s systems requires significant time – about 10,000 hours – or at least nine to twelve working days, after which another ten days or so for payments, as noted by Valerie Arkoosh, secretary of the state’s Department of Human Services.

Instead, Arkoosh proposes that USDA allow states to pay SNAP recipients half of the usual payment as a one-time November payment, noting that such an approach was used during the Covid-19 pandemic at the start of the Trump administration.

“This would merely delay access to food assistance for almost 2 million Pennsylvanians who are currently not receiving the payments they are due, and would waste taxpayers’ funds and cause long-term harm to the SNAP program in the state of Pennsylvania,” Arkoosh wrote in her comments to USDA leadership.

The delay in payments has raised new legal questions in cases challenging the former decision by authorities not to provide SNAP payments in November.

In a ruling last week, U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island ordered the government to use the reserve fund to provide at least partial SNAP payments this month, ordering action to be taken “swiftly” to ensure payments.

A coalition of cities, nonprofit organizations, unions, and small businesses involved in the case had previously this week called on the court, arguing that the delayed payments violate McConnell’s order and urging the judge to issue a new order requiring the government to fully fund SNAP payments in November.

In documents filed on Wednesday, the government strongly disputed these claims, stating that since funds were released from the reserve fund to states and providing guidance on calculating reduced payments, “there is nothing more USDA can do.”

McConnell scheduled a hearing on the matter for Thursday.

“The states are not parties to this case, and the court did not require them, for example, to hire additional technical staff or adhere to certain deadlines. The plaintiffs have not shown authority to change how states operate, except for distributing reduced payments after funds are provided to states, as USDA has already done.”