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The Trump administration said Monday that it will restore food stamp funding, but it will issue only about half of the usual payment for November while the government shutdown continues. The decision will have a huge impact in New Bedford, where nearly half of all households rely on federal food aid.
When Massachusetts will transmit the funds to recipients’ SNAP cards was not immediately clear. The administration said it would authorize states on Monday to distribute the partial SNAP funds, but that it could take some states’ systems weeks to process the change to the benefits. However, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that it would take Massachusetts only “a couple of days” once the federal government acted.
The announcement, in a court filing, came in response to rulings on Friday by two judges ordering the administration to continue SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown.
The Food and Nutrition Service “intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November 2025,” an administration court filing said. The administration also declined to use other funds to provide full SNAP benefits for the month.
The response comes after Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled on Friday the administration’s halt in benefits violated federal law, which requires the Department of Agriculture to draw on previously appropriated contingency funds for SNAP and, where possible, tap into other available resources.
Just minutes after Talwani’s order, Judge John J. McConnell Jr., a federal judge in Rhode Island, issued a similar ruling, also requiring the Trump administration to release the contingency funds.
The rulings came as the shutdown, now in its second month, froze food assistance for roughly 42 million Americans, including about 1.1 million in Massachusetts and nearly half of all households in New Bedford.
Pam Kuechler, executive director of PACE, said that despite the court order, they still saw a large number of people come through its Community Food Center at 477 Park St. on Monday. “We did end up having to go purchase some additional meats and things like that to make sure that we could accommodate everybody,” said Kuechler. “We’re not seeing it slow down, really.”
Kuechler said it’s certainly a huge help to have some benefits released, as it gives people some peace of mind that they’ll be able to go to the store and get food.
“My concern is that people are still in a bit of a panic,” she said. “The hope is that they can come to a resolution before the end of the month, so we don’t have to worry about this going forward.”
A food drive organized by the city’s Department of Community Services has expanded its drop-off locations to make it easier for residents to donate non-perishable food. Donations can now be dropped off at City Hall, Room 113; the New Bedford Council on Aging; the Buttonwood Senior Center; Andrea McCoy Recreation Center; New Bedford Regional Airport; and the Howland-Green and Wilks Libraries.
In the court filing, the government said it had $5.25 billion in emergency SNAP contingency funds on hand and plans to spend them all in November. Of that, $450 million will go to administrative costs, and $150 million to the Nutrition Assistance Program in the territories.
That leaves $4.65 billion available for actual SNAP benefits in November, which is half the usual benefit amount for eligible households.
The filing also states that once the contingency fund is exhausted, no money will remain for newly approved SNAP applicants in November, emergency benefits during disasters, or any financial emergency to prevent a full program shutdown if the crisis deepens.
Healey, in a statement issued after the Trump administration announced its decision, said the contingency fund should have been accessible earlier.
“Families should never have been put through this, and it shouldn’t have taken a Court order to force President Trump to feed American families like every president before him,” said Healey in a news release. “We are awaiting clarity on how much and when those benefits will be made available.”
The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions, called on state leaders to tap the $8.6 billion rainy day fund.
“Massachusetts is at a crossroads. Will we throw up our hands in despair, and simply point fingers at the federal government’s cruelty? Or will we do what it takes to protect Massachusetts residents from the vicious actions of an uncaring federal administration?” said Deb Pimental, executive strategist at the Coalition for Social Justice, in a news release. “We cannot allow our neighbors to go hungry and have their health care ripped away, while billions of dollars sit unused in state coffers.”
Several Massachusetts organizations, in a letter dated Oct. 21, have been urging the governor to use the state’s rainy day fund.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said on X that Trump tried to “hold SNAP hostage” and that millions will see their benefits delayed because of that. “No more games,” Markey wrote. “Use all available resources to ensure no one goes hungry.”
In a statement to The Light, U.S. Rep. William R. Keating, who signed onto three food assistance bills in the past weeks, said the Trump administration unlawfully chose not to distribute any funds on Saturday.
“The USDA should have been prepared on day one of the shutdown to issue November benefits in full, as they have consistently had access to all the funds needed to do so,” Keating wrote. “This is a manufactured crisis that continues to get worse as it drags on due to the legally and morally questionable decisions made by this administration.”
Speaking to reporters Monday before the Trump administration’s court filing, Healey said the state is prepared to move quickly once federal funds are released.
“It just — that does take a couple of days to do,” she said of reloading food benefit cards.
She also noted that other programs have frozen during the shutdown, including heating assistance for seniors and low-income residents (LIHEAP) and Head Start pre-school programs.
The administration is using $13 million in federal Home Energy Assistance Program funding remaining from last year to support households with a heating emergency in the short term while the shutdown continues. Heating emergencies include not having any heat, receiving a termination notice from a utility, having less than 1/8 of a tank of oil, or having less than three days’ supply of other deliverable fuels, according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Six Head Start programs in Massachusetts said they did not receive their scheduled payments on Nov. 1, and had to close their centers in Brockton and Norwood starting Monday, leaving 550 children without care and over 150 staff members furloughed.
DTA officials said the shutdown has compounded challenges for SNAP recipients from new eligibility and work requirements approved by Congress and President Trump this year.
“President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress have created this crisis,” the agency says on its public information page, estimating that the law’s changes could eventually affect more than 150,000 Massachusetts households.
Programs like the Healthy Incentives Program and Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children remain operational, they say.
Over the past week, state officials have debated whether they can cover any of the $240 million Massachusetts gets every month to pay for SNAP. The Trump administration’s filing on Monday changes the calculus, but state officials are still facing questions about filling the financial gap.
Both House and Senate Ways and Means chairs said on Monday morning, before the Trump administration court filings, that “everything is on the table” as they explore ways to support struggling federal programs like SNAP during the shutdown.
While some advocates have urged the state to tap its $8 billion rainy day fund to backfill food assistance, Senate Republicans have suggested using a regular state appropriation instead.
Democratic leaders have been cautious about drawing from the stabilization fund to replace federal spending, and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said he sent a letter Friday to credit rating agencies asking how such a move would be viewed.
“We sent a letter on Friday to the credit agencies to ask them what the usage of the rainy day fund on replacing any federal programs like SNAP, for instance, or LIHEAP — what would that do, by using that and with the idea of not necessarily getting a reimbursement?” Michlewitz said.
To find food pantries in the Southeast, check the United Way of Greater New Bedford’s Hunger Commission list. For additional resources near you, visit Southcoast Health’s local resource directory.
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
Sam Drysdale and Ella Adams of the State House News Service contributed reporting.
I wonder how many of my fellow tax payers in MA feel about being overtaxed by the liberal Democrats? That’s right, those of us who prefer to work for a living to support ourselves are being over-taxed just so the excessive Democrat State Representatives, and Senators, and of course, equally liberal socialist Democrat Governor of Massachusetts can hold on to OUR tax dollars so they can fund the Healthcare, WIC, Food Stamps, and more for illegal immigrants, and those welfare class residents who choose not to work have nothing to worry about?
I think it’s absolutely disgusting!
I remember when New Bedford was a largely Blue collar city of people who worked to support themselves, and the only people who may need assistance are the elderly, disabled, or mothers with children who had fathers that left them behind, and even those mothers, it was a temporary solution as they’d go back to work when the children were in school full time.
It’s really terrible how things have changed so drastically in 30-40 years, and it will continue to get worse.
For the most part our political leadership has been elected by a landslide, not 49.7% of the vote.
Has NB gotten better under Trump?
It’s only ten months in the second term, do you think it would be better with Biden, or Harris, and the same Democrats who forced the 800+ page “Affordable Care Act” that was called a failure back then will fail every year.
Democrats want to hold the COVID increased subsidies, what about every year after? Are the middle class and wealthy tax payers supposed to pay for their own cost increases, and everyone else’s premiums increases too? Why don’t they just come right out and force us all to pay healthcare premiums based on income, that way they don’t have to lie to everyone, just tell us all, those who earned a better career with a higher salary can pay for those who entered America illegally, and work those jobs off the books can get Medicaid, Food Stamps, and the rest of the free programs everyone seems to be working so hard to get them, all they have to do is live in the right state, or in MA, the right city where 50% of the population depend on the federal tax payers for the $100 BILLION+ dollars annually….I wonder what happens when 100 Million jobs are lost to AI in the next 5-10 years and all that tax revenue is gone, who picks up the tab then?
I’m sure you remember when people who worked 40 hours per week needed more money for car repairs, or appliance replacement, whatever the cost, if we had to, we got a part time job and worked 60 hours per week if needed, there were no handouts, no judges forcing the state or federal government to find the funds somewhere else, all while our Armed Forces, TSA, Air Traffic Controllers, and millions more have to work without pay, all because Democrats want the rest of us to pay the healthcare premium increases for all.
Where does it end is all I’m asking????
How about home insurance, auto insurance, childcare costs that are rising annually for all, not just the bad drivers, are we supposed to pay for those increases as well? When does it end, when we’re all broke? I can’t wait to see how these fools think they can cap apartment rental prices, with the annual property tax, property insurance, and water/sewer rate increases around 10%, who picks up those costs?
Can New Bedford get “better” under any political party administration?
Getting “better” is a function of the individual, who in turn boosts the “betterment” of the community.
Government Aid Programs just add to the dependency of individuals and in some cases add to the debt service of New Bedford.
The latter is evidenced by Chapter 70 Educational Aid that enables the hiring of teachers, yet, it provides no monies for the long term pension benefits of hired teachers and leaves this to the taxpayers of New Bedford.
As I view it, the Utopia (Fantasia) of New Bedford is based on Government Aid Programs and Other People’s Money without any understanding of the ongoing disincentives this fiscal arrangement fosters.
New Bedford has not fostered “self reliance” in a very, very long time.
The consistent theme is one of creating or applying for one aid program after another and “crying “ about one’s disadvantaged economic status without material attempts to improve it.
The taxpayers of New Bedford can barely support themselves let alone the municipal fiscal mismanagement and serious, long term debt responsibilities facing this city.
Good luck in the future.
“The taxpayers of New Bedford can barely support themselves”
I don’t know where you got that information, but it’s absolutely false.
FYI…the tax payers aren’t responsible for “the municipal fiscal mismanagement and serious, long term debt”, LOL!!
I don’t know where you got that line from, but you should take print your fictional series somewhere else, the tax payers of New Bedford could buy and sell you for rags.
Unfortunately, New Bedford taxpayers are responsible for the payment of taxes (support) that result from municipal fiscal mismanagement and the serious, long term debt responsibilities facing this city.
Literally, many taxpayers of New Bedford can barely support themselves and further tax increases will strain them significantly.
By the way, the “rag trade” is long gone, similar to the once solid middle class City of New Bedford.