Overview
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted an administrative stay that pauses a lower-court order requiring full November SNAP funding while the First Circuit considers the appeal.
- The USDA told states to issue only partial benefits of about 65% and warned of penalties, including canceling federal administrative cost-sharing and holding states liable for overpayments.
- Several states had begun loading full benefits after earlier guidance, but the USDA now deems those actions unauthorized and the U.S. Treasury has frozen some reimbursements, including in Wisconsin.
- A multistate filing to the First Circuit warns of catastrophic operational disruptions and large financial exposure if full payments already processed are not reimbursed, as governors in Massachusetts and Wisconsin push back.
- SNAP, serving nearly 42 million people, has seen its first-ever monthly lapse during the prolonged shutdown, straining food banks and complicating EBT operations as states try to recalculate and reverse payments.