A volunteer displays information on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, US, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
Mel Musto | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Department of Agriculture issued a memo to states late Saturday evening, threatening to enact financial penalties if states that issued full monthly SNAP benefits for November don’t “undo” the payments.
The late-night directive from the Trump administration adds to the chaos surrounding the anti-hunger program that serves more than 42 million Americans.
The memo, signed by Patrick Penn, Deputy Under Secretary of the Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, warned states that the administration had not cleared full SNAP benefit payments for November.
“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” according to the memo. State program administrators were directed to distribute 65% partial payments of SNAP benefits for the month instead, the memo said.
States must also “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” the memo said. Failure to comply could result in the USDA cancelling the federal share of administration costs or holding states financially liable for “any overissuances that result from the noncompliance.”
It was unclear how the USDA expects states to claw back any unauthorized SNAP payments.
The Agriculture Department and the White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The USDA memo was first reported by The New York Times.
The memo comes as some states scrambled to comply with a court ruling on Thursday, when a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to pay full SNAP benefits for November by Friday. The court rejected the administration’s plan to partially fund the food stamp program amid the U.S. government shutdown.
The USDA subsequently told states that it would begin disbursing full SNAP benefits to comply with that order, even as the ruling faced an appeal from the Trump administration.
The Associated Press reported late Friday that more than half a dozen states had “confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday.”
However, that order was paused by the Supreme Court on Friday, opening the door for the Trump administration, or any plaintiffs, to challenge the ruling.
The Trump administration had previously said it would not use the contingency fund containing $4.65 billion to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November. The total cost of full SNAP benefits for the month is around $8 billion.
The program, like other federal programs, has no currently appropriated money, as a result of Congress failing to pass a spending bill. That failure led to the U.S. government shutdown on Oct. 1.
Past administrations have continued paying SNAP benefits during prior shutdowns.
