A plan announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide partial food stamp benefits for November during the ongoing government shutdown could offer a measure of relief to millions of Americans. Yet the move still leaves participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the dark on exactly when they will get the funds.

In a declaration submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Patrick Penn, a Department of Agriculture official who oversees SNAP, said $4.6 billion in contingency federal funds will be used to cover 50% of SNAP recipients' benefits.

However, the USDA declaration said that procedural changes U.S. states must make in order to issue partial benefits could take "anywhere from a few weeks to up to several

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