In a significant policy update, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday that full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be distributed in November. This decision follows a federal judge’s dismissal of the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce benefits.

The USDA’s Food and Nutritional Services communicated this decision through a memo to regional SNAP directors. The memo stated, “FNS is working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances in compliance with the November 6, 2025, order from the District Court of Rhode Island.”

Further details in the letter highlighted, “Later today, FNS will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmittal of full issuance files to your EBT processor. We will keep you as up to date as possible on any future developments and appreciate your continued partnership to serve program beneficiaries across the country. State agencies with questions should contact their FNS Regional Office representative.”

This decision impacts approximately 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP benefits monthly, including 28 million children. The provision of full benefits ensures that these families continue to receive crucial support.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell played a pivotal role in this outcome. On Thursday, he instructed the administration to utilize a $5 billion contingency fund to deliver the complete SNAP benefits. This decision follows his earlier mandate to maintain benefits during the ongoing government shutdown, reflecting his consistent stance on safeguarding these essential resources.

The administration has already asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block McConnell’s order.

“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,” the Justice Department wrote in its motion,” the Justice Department wrote in its motion Friday.

Vice President JD Vance late Thursday called McConnell’s ruling “absurd.”

“What we’d like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government of course, then we can fund SNAP and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people,” Vance said in a roundtable with Central Asian leaders at the White House. “But in the midst of a shutdown we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation.”