Attorney General Ellison wins restoration of SNAP benefits for 440,000 Minnesotans

Court requires USDA to use contingency funds to continue to provide SNAP benefits

Court determines USDA has the ability to continue providing full SNAP benefits throughout November, requires USDA to state by Monday whether it will

October 31, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — A court this afternoon issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use a contingency fund of over $5 billion to continue providing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits nationwide. This ruling comes in response to a lawsuit Attorney General Ellison co-led against USDA and its Secretary Brooke Rollins for unlawfully suspending SNAP benefits, which helps more than 40 million Americans buy food during the ongoing federal government shutdown. An average of 440,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP benefits every month, including over 180,000 children, and about 67,000 seniors, and 52,000 people with disabilities..

The court stated the following in its ruling (emphasis theirs):

While USDA will be required to use their $5 billion contingency fund to continue to provide SNAP benefits nationwide, the fund does not have enough money to pay for full SNAP benefits throughout the month of November. The court also confirmed that USDA has access to additional funds which it can use to continue to provide SNAP benefits once the initial $5 billion fund is exhausted. The court ordered USDA to evaluate whether and how it will use that additional fund to continue to provide benefits throughout November, and to report their decision by no later than Monday, November 3.

“Today’s ruling made it clear that Donald Trump’s Department of Agriculture has multiple ways to continue feeding hungry Minnesotans during the shutdown,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Instead of using any of that available funding, the Trump administration tried to take food off the table of kids and families across our state and across our country. It is impossible for me to understand the cruelty required to use 42 million hungry Americans as political leverage.”

“It is a tremendous privilege to help lead this legal fight and to have stopped President Trump from using hunger as a political weapon, and the fact this fight was even necessary should spur every American into action and spur Congress into forcing the release of every SNAP dollar hungry Americans are entitled to,” added Ellison.

Background on Attorney General Ellison’s Lawsuit Against USDA

The lawsuit Attorney General Ellison co-led against USDA on October 28 argues that Congress put a rainy-day fund in place so nutrition support could continue during a government shutdown. Despite that clear Congressional intent, Trump’s USDA refused to tap into that fund, claiming there were insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for the approximately 42 million individuals across the country that rely on them.  

The agency has access to billions of dollars in SNAP-specific contingency funds appropriated by Congress for the continuation of the SNAP program in the event of an emergency. On September 30, 2025, the USDA released a plan in the event of a government shutdown. On page 15 of that plan, USDA states that:

This has long been the policy of USDA. During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, and again in preparation for a shutdown in 2021, USDA repeatedly confirmed that contingency funding was available to continue providing SNAP benefits if necessary. For example, in 2019 guidance issued by USDA, the agency noted that “limited funding is available from the contingency that can be used to provide [SNAP] benefits.” USDA has clearly acknowledged that it has the authority to continue providing SNAP benefits during a government shutdown, and that Congress intended for it to do exactly that. Furthermore, USDA has funded other programs with emergency funds during this shutdown, but has refused to fund SNAP.

USDA’s decision not to fund SNAP would leave tens of millions of Americans without the assistance they need to buy food. It is clear the federal government is making a deliberate, illegal, and inhumane choice not to fund the crucial SNAP program.

The lapse in benefits would have dire consequences for the health and well-being of millions across the country, who rely on the program to feed themselves and their families. This lapse would also put unnecessary strain on state and local governments and community organizations, as families increasingly rely on emergency services and local food pantries that are already struggling to fill a growing nutrition gap. It would affect our school systems and college and university communities, where food insecurity would stand in the way of educating our students. Suspending SNAP benefits would also harm the hundreds of thousands of grocers and merchants that accept SNAP payment for food purchases across the country. USDA has estimated that in a slowing economy, every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity. 

While the federal government funds and sets the monthly amount of SNAP benefits, states are responsible for administering programs in their state. Suspending SNAP benefits in this manner is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. Where Congress has clearly spoken, providing that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise. The coalition is asking the Court to immediately turn benefits back on to prevent further harm to residents. 

Attorney General Ellison was joined in filing the lawsuit, which he co-led alongside the attorneys general of Arizona, California, and Massachusetts, by the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania have also joined.