Government shutdown latest; states sue over SNAP cutoff
WASHINGTON ‒ Democratic governors and attorneys general from 25 states sued to stop the White House from ending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits on Nov. 1 as the government shutdown reached Day 28.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Boston, called a looming food aid cutoff "contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious."
The Agriculture Department in a recent memo said it can't use contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, contradicting earlier guidance that the money was available "in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year." About 42 million Americans would lose their SNAP benefits.
"Bottom line, the well has run dry," the department said on its website. "At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats."
Democrats accused President Donald Trump's administration of choosing to cut food stamps when it isn't necessary. “SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective tools to fight hunger, and the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has the money to keep it running," New York state Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "There is no excuse for this administration to abandon families who rely on SNAP, or food stamps, as a lifeline."
Senate Democrats are refusing to advance a short-term government funding measure until Republicans agree to restore major cuts to Obamacare.
US judge extends block on Trump's mass layoffs during shutdown
A federal judge on Tuesday further blocked Trump's administration from following through on plans to lay off thousands of federal employees amid a nearly month-long partial government shutdown.
During a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston extended an earlier temporary ruling barring nearly 40 federal agencies from implementing layoffs pending the outcome of a legal challenge by unions that represent federal workers.
About 4,100 employees at eight agencies had been notified that they were being laid off before Illston's Oct. 16 ruling, the Trump administration said in court filings. White House Budget Director Russell Vought has said that more than 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs because of the shutdown.
– Reuters
USDA secretary says contingency funds aren't enough to cover SNAP
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her department lacks the $9.2 billion to pay for SNAP benefits in November after a coalition of 25 Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration over plans to end the food-stamp program beginning Nov. 1 amid the government shutdown.
“We don’t even have close to that in contingency funding,” Rollins said in a Tuesday afternoon interview on CNN. "We've got to get this government open."
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue the USDA is obligated to use funds from its $6 billion in contingency funds to cover SNAP in November, but Rollins has said the emergency money can’t be used for this purpose. The position seems to contradict previous USDA guidance that said the money was available "in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year."
Rollins said the department's emergency fund isn’t large enough to cover the shortfall. During the shutdown, Rollins said the department has spent money to open Farm Service Agency officers and pay food and safety inspectors, while also maintaining the SNAP program in October.
“The SNAP program in November costs $9.2 billion,” Rollins said. “We don’t have the legal authority, as of today, to distribute anything less than that through the formulas, etcetera. We're obviously looking at all of this as we move forward."
JD Vance says troops will continue to be paid
Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday that military members will receive their next paychecks despite the ongoing government shutdown.
"Will the troops get paid on Friday? Yes," Vance said, according to reports. "We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on Friday."
However, the vice president did not provide additional details on what funds the government will use to pay military members. Troops, like millions of federal workers, see their paychecks on the line when the government shuts down.
– Marina Pitofsky
How many Americans use SNAP, or food stamps?
More than 42 million people across more than 22 million households relied on SNAP benefits every month during fiscal year 2025, according to the USDA.
In total, that means around 12% of the more than 342 million people in the United States utilize the benefits.
According to the USDA's fiscal year 2023 report on the SNAP program, its latest annual data, the largest age bracket of those who relied on the benefits were adults ages 18 to 59.
However, children accounted for about 39% of the people who received the benefits, according to the data.
In fiscal year 2025, the average monthly benefit per person in the SNAP program was $190.59, per USDA. For households, the average monthly benefit was $356.41 in total.
– Melina Khan
Lawsuit: Trump administration withholding money for food stamps
The lawsuit argues suspending SNAP benefits is avoidable, arbitrary and is being carried out in violation of the Food and Nutrition Act, which requires that “assistance under this program shall be furnished to all eligible households."
The plaintiffs, led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Arizona and Minnesota, say withholding monthly food assistance payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations would mark a first in the SNAP program's 60-year history.
The states, as well as the District of Columbia, have asked a judge to move rapidly to force the USDA to use available contingency funds for November SNAP benefits and ensure that millions of families do not lose access to food assistance in the coming days.
"Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
– Joey Garrison, with Reuters
Democratic governors and attorneys general sue over SNAP cutoff
Democratic attorneys generals and governors from 25 states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday in a push to stop the White House from ending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits on Nov. 1 amid the federal government shutdown.
The suit, filed in federal court in Boston, comes after the Agriculture Department in a recent memo said it can't use contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps. About 42 million Americans would lose their SNAP benefits
The Trump administration’s position contradicts previous USDA guidance that said the money was available "in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year."
Trump won't try for a third term, Johnson says
Johnson said he doesn't believe Trump has any real inclination to attempt to defy the Constitution and run for a third term.
"There is the 22nd Amendment," he told reporters. "I think the president knows. And he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution."
The comments follow former West Wing aide Steve Bannon's recent suggestions to the news outlet The Economist that "there is a plan" for Trump to run for the White House again in 2028. The Constitution prevents any president from serving more than two four-year terms, regardless of whether they were consecutive.
Why did WIC get temporary funding but not SNAP?
Speaker Johnson told reporters the Trump administration had found creative ways to cover benefits under the Women Infants and Children program and to pay the military but could find no option to keep Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Pentagon shifted funding to pay troops Oct. 15 but warned the option won’t be available for the next paycheck Oct. 31. Johnson said WIC continued because administration lawyers found a 1930s statute that said tariff revenue could fund the program because so much food was transported across the border.
“They’ve done some creative, amazing things to mitigate, to lessen the pain as much as possible,” Johnson said.
But administration lawyers couldn’t find a statute to justify continuing SNAP benefits, which go to 42 million Americans and will run out of funding Nov. 1.
“They did the legal research but they could not find a 1930s statute to bootstrap that,” Johnson said. “It’s out of our hands. That’s why we’re so frustrated.”
GOP touts union support for ending shutdown
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, urged Senate Democrats to join Republicans in reopening the government because the largest union of federal workers gave them a reason to change course.
The American Federation of Government Employees issued a statement Oct. 27 urging lawmakers to reopen the government.
“You have an off-ramp now,” Johnson told reporters Oct. 28. “The largest unions are saying please do this.”
He said air-traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers who stay on the job during shutdowns but don’t receive paychecks, have distributed fliers at airports to explain the safety concerns about the shutdown. More than 8,000 flights were delayed Oct. 26 as controller absences mounted and as they faced their first missed paycheck Oct. 28.
“Some are turning to food banks, as we’ve discussed, in order to feed their families,” said the third-ranking House leader, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota.
Shutdown a ‘very stressful time’ for military families: House veteran
A military veteran, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told reporters at a Republican news conference that families of troops deployed overseas are worried about paychecks drying up during the shutdown.
“This is a very stressful time for military families,” said Pfluger, who served 20 years in the Air Force and is now chair of the Republican Study Committee.
Military families are worried about paying the rent, buy groceries or put gas in the car while struggling to defend the country, he said.
“The enemy has not shut down,” Pfluger added. “Our enemies around the world want us to be divided.”
Vance to meet with Senate Republicans
Vance is set to meet with Senate Republicans Tuesday during their weekly luncheon.
He is expected to talk about the government shutdown while also urging GOP lawmakers to vote against measures Congress will likely take up this week challenging Trump's tariff measures.
Trump remains overseas in Japan amid shutdown
As the shutdown continues, President Trump remains overseas in Asia, arriving in Japan on Tuesday to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who last week became the country's first female prime minister.
Trump's is expected to return to the United States late Thursday.
Trump, asked on Air Force One whether there's a way to pay air traffic controllers amid the shutdown, said, "Yes there is. But the Democrats should do a simple extension. The Democrats are holding it up."
Democrats have slammed Trump's absence and demanded Republicans come to the negotiating table while the president is away.
"Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement. "Not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most.”
Largest federal workers union backs Republican bill to end shutdown
The nation's largest union of federal employees on Monday called on lawmakers to end the government shutdown by passing a "clean" continuing resolution backed by Republicans that doesn’t include an extension of health care subsidies demanded by Democrats.
The statement from the American Federation of Government Employees puts pressure on Democrats to join in approving a bill to fund the government that lacks health care policy changes the party wants.
“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in the statement. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
Republicans immediately trumpeted the AFGE announcement as they push Democrats to abandon efforts to include an extension of Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies in government funding legislation.
Democrats keep digging in on health care
Health care policy remains the dividing line for Democrats on Day 28 of the federal government shutdown.
Senate Democrats have 12 times blocked a Republican-backed continuing resolution to fund the government at existing spending levels. Democrats argue legislation to reopen the government should also extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse Republicans’ Medicaid cuts passed over the summer.
Republicans have refused to entertain negotiations on health care policy, arguing the ACA subsidies should be debated by Congress after the shutdown is over.
Democrats have circled Nov. 1 as a key date in their push. That’s when open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, begins and millions of Americans will start shopping for their 2026 health coverage plans.
If the subsidies are not extended by November, healthcare.gov consumers could experience sticker shock when they start searching for health care plans. Premiums are expected to double for millions of Americans if the subsidies are not renewed, according to the research organization KFF.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.