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(NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has instructed states to "immediately undo" actions they've taken to nonstop retired afloat SNAP benefits, according to aggregate reports.
The USDA told states that those who bash not comply whitethorn suffer retired connected national cost-sharing of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, CNN and The New York Times reported Sunday, citing the directive that was sent retired connected Saturday. States could besides beryllium held liable for the funds that person been administered.
While the USDA oversees SNAP, states are tasked with administering it.
Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys wide sued to unit the Trump medication to support the programme successful November. They won the favorable rulings past week, starring to the swift merchandise of benefits to millions successful respective states.
On Friday, however, the Supreme Court temporarily halted an order that required the Trump medication to money SNAP for November. The medication had connected Thursday been instructed to determination astir $4 cardinal from kid nutrition programs to assistance money SNAP for the astir 42 cardinal radical who person the market assistance, The Hill reported.
Before the Trump medication went to the Supreme Court astir the matter, the USDA had instructed SNAP directors passim the state that it was working to comply and process the payments.
Some SNAP recipients — covering 1 successful 8 Americans — received afloat benefits connected Friday, including those successful Wisconsin, according to the New York Times.
In a connection Sunday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers responded to the USDA's Saturday directive with a elemental "No."
"Consistent with a tribunal order, Wisconsin legally loaded FoodShare payments to cards. Now, the Trump Administration has spent the past 48 hours making a last-ditch effort to yank those payments from astir 700,000 Wisconsinites, including 270,000 kids. It's pathetic," Evers wrote connected X. "We volition proceed to combat against the Trump Administration's efforts to instrumentality nutrient distant from Wisconsin's kids, families, and seniors, and we are anxious for the tribunal to resoluteness this and supply certainty for families and businesses."
According to a Saturday tribunal filing submitted by 26 states, Wisconsin has "insufficient funds to reimburse retailers for their provisions sold to SNAP recipients" aft the U.S. Treasury declined the transaction to capable the state's SNAP EBT cards.
The deficiency of wealth could permission vendors unpaid and trigger escalating ineligible claims, the states warned. “States could look demands to instrumentality hundreds of millions of dollars successful the aggregate,” the filing astatine the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals says.
The USDA did not instantly respond to Nexstar's petition for comment.
Other states that provided afloat SNAP benefits to astatine slightest immoderate recipients connected Friday see Hawaii, Oregon, Colorado, California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington.
“To the grade States sent afloat SNAP outgo files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, lawman undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to authorities SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States indispensable instantly undo immoderate steps taken to contented afloat SNAP benefits for November 2025.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
