Trump Administration Orders States To Claw Back Food Stamp Payments as Agriculture Department Appeals Lawsuit

The Department of Agriculture is demanding that states immediately “undo” any work they have done to send out SNAP benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, according to a memo first reported by the New York Times.  The decision to do so comes as the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is appealing a judge’s order that she start releasing some SNAP funds to states despite the government shutdown. 

A group of churches, community centers, and labor unions sued Ms. Rollins at the end of October after she said she would not tap an emergency fund meant to keep SNAP benefits flowing in the event of a shutdown. A judge in Rhode Island ordered her to do so, though in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, Ms. Rollins asked that that order be put on hold. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted Ms. Rollins’ request. 

In a memo sent to states on Saturday night, the Department of Agriculture says that any state that sent out full SNAP benefits must undo their actions. 

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized. Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” the department wrote. Instead, the USDA says states may move forward with SNAP payments at a 35 percent reduction, which the department originally proposed to the judge in Rhode Island before he ordered that full benefits be sent. 

The Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In the memo, the department threatened to punish states for noncompliance. “Failure to comply with this memorandum may result in USDA taking various actions, including cancellation of the Federal share of State administrative costs and holding States liable for any overissuances that result from the noncompliance,” the department said. 

The case now heads back to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where the Trump administration is appealing Judge John McConnell’s order that full SNAP benefits should be paid. The case could become irrelevant if the government is re-opened in the coming days, however. 

The SNAP payments drama put more than 40 million Americans across more than 20 million households at risk of losing their food stamps benefits for the month. The Department of Agriculture said in a legal filing to Judge McConnell earlier this month that it was working to send out their partial benefits, only for President Trump to then threaten to withhold all funds in defiance of Judge McConnell’s order. 

“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. 

Within hours, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt walked that statement back, telling reporters that the president was referring to future shutdowns, not the current one. Later that day, a political appointee at the Department of Agriculture confirmed in a filing to Judge McConnell that the partial benefits were being sent out to states.