On Monday, Patrick Penn, the deputy under secretary of agriculture for food nutrition and consumer services, stated in a court filing that the USDA would begin using its available contingency funds to cover half of people’s SNAP benefits for November.

“Per orders issued by the United States District Courts for the Districts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, FNS intends to deplete SNAP contingency funds completely and provide reduced SNAP benefits for November 2025,” Penn attested in the supplementary declaration.

Following the USDA’s announcement last month that it would not be tapping into an allocated contingency fund to pay for SNAP benefits, despite past precedent, attorneys general and governors from 25 states sued the federal government.

The lawsuit alleged that the “USDA’s suspe

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