Tens of millions of Americans are spending the weekend anxious and hungry, as they await resolution of political and legal wrangling over federal food assistance.

The Supreme Court late on Nov. 7 allowed the federal government to make only partial payments for now. The dispute ended up in the highest court after the government appealed for a second time that day an order from a federal judge to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by the end of the day.

That judge, Rhode Island’s John McConnell, had accused the government of playing political games with the lives of the 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps.

Though appeals are a routine part of the judicial process, the timing of the Supreme Court’s decision will keep SNAP recipients in limbo for at least the weekend if not longer. The majority of SNAP beneficiaries are extremely low-income families with children, as well as seniors and people with disabilities.

Food banks and pantries say they are already scrambling to meet the needs of millions of more families and grocery stores report struggling with the drop in spending by SNAP recipients.

The crisis was triggered by the government shutdown, now in its second month. The federal government has always fully funded food assistance during previous government shutdowns, but said it could not this time.

Vice President JD Vance slammed the decision by the District Court in Rhode Island as an “absurd ruling,” telling reporters Nov. 6, that “In the middle of a shutdown, we can’t have a federal judge telling the president how he must triage the situation.”

On social media Nov. 7, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the Trump administration had filed an “emergency stay application in the Supreme Court requesting immediate relief” because of “judicial activism at its worst.”

“A single district court in Rhode Island should not be able to seize center stage in the shutdown, seek to upend political negotiations that could produce swift political solutions for SNAP and other programs, and dictate its own preferences for how scarce federal funds should be spent,” she said.

The Senate again failed to reopen the government in a vote Nov. 7. Senate leaders are keeping senators around for a rare weekend session, a potential indicator they believe a deal could be reached soon.

So, more than a week after food safety net money was delayed for the first time in the program’s 60-year history, recipients wait and worry.

Stuck in limbo

Tonya LaFarr, 47, of Des Moines, Iowa is among those already struggling without her November SNAP benefits. The $70 she normally receives each month didn’t arrive as scheduled Nov. 5. All that is left in her SNAP account is the $0.82 she didn’t spend in October.

There’s been no update from the state or USDA, just what she has gleaned from the news.

“None of us have heard anything,” said LaFarr, who recently got housing after a period of homelessness.

She hopes to hitch a ride to the nearest food pantry, which limits visits to once a month because it is so overrun. The community fridge at her local library occasionally has something she can eat, but as a diabetic her options are limited. Occasionally someone leaves canned food in the common room at her apartment complex.

“I don’t understand how they want us to survive,” LaFarr said.

The path of most harm to SNAP recipients

In his ruling, Judge McConnell said USDA intentionally took the path that would cause the most harm to recipients.

McConnell gave USDA two choices: find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits from other sources or quickly clear any “administrative and clerical burdens” that would stand in the way of quickly providing partial benefits by Nov. 5.

USDA elected to use part of the contingency fund to provide up to 65% of benefits this month, something that it said required changes to computer systems that could take weeks or months, and declined to use other available funds for the remainder.

“The Court finds it astounding that the Defendants would even choose to go down this path if they were aware of all the difficulties and delays that such partial payment of SNAP benefits would entail,” McConnell said in his order.

USDA has argued that Child Nutrition program funding should not be used to make up the $4 billion SNAP gap in November because there is no guarantee Congress will replace the money for child nutrition.

In its appeal request, the government said, “there is no lawful basis for an order that directs (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions.”

USDA has already tapped this fund to help continue funding WIC during in the government shutdown, which has now lasted more than a month.

McConnell noted in his ruling that the Child Nutrition programs have $23 billion on hand and cost $3 billion per month to operate. He said the chance of immediate harm to the program, which funds school lunches, is low compared to the immediate need for SNAP.

States are struggling to keep up

While the legal wrangling took place on Nov. 7, USDA began working to get states the full benefit amount so it could be quickly disbursed.

But Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell told USA Today that even after USDA was ordered earlier in the week to provide at least partial benefits, it gave the state inaccurate information about how much money to provide its 1.1 million recipients, which has slowed the process even further.

“States are a bit confused frankly,” Campbell said.

Massachusetts is one of the 26 states suing the federal government in a separate case to force it to provide full benefits this month. The judge in that case also ordered USDA to provide at least partial benefits.

States have received the partial funds from USDA, and are moving as fast as they can to disburse them, Campbell said, but that means recalculating amounts and reprograming systems.

California, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin began putting money on recipients debit-like EBT cards Nov. 7.

How quickly the money will appear in people’s accounts differs by state. Massachusetts hopes to have some money out by early next week, she said.

“We’re all hearing the complaints and the stories ‒ heart-wrenching stories from real people who are unable to access benefits to afford food … We’re operating as quickly as we can to get benefits on cards. But because of this confusion by the federal administration, it has created more delay than we would have liked,” she said.

Families blindsided, not given time to plan

Working families who rely on federal food assistance were blindsided by the news that SNAP wasn’t coming in November, said Misha Dancing Waters, 54, a county level economic support specialist in Dane, Wisconsin. She spoke to USA Today in her role as a member of AFSCME local 720.

Many of her clients were already just scraping by, she said. Losing a few hundred dollars this month is catastrophic.

“People are getting to a point of panic,” she said. “This is just cruel.”

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