Alliance Alert: The Alliance for Rights and Recovery commends Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State for taking decisive action to ensure that people across the state continue receiving food support, even as the federal government fails to deliver full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding during the ongoing shutdown.
Governor Hochul has declared a State of Emergency to unlock $100 million in emergency food aid, directing resources to food banks, pantries, and local relief efforts. She has also mobilized 500 members of the Empire State Service Corps as part of a statewide “Day of Hunger Action” to help distribute food and assist struggling families.
“No one should go hungry or have to endure additional stress because the food assistance they expect and deserve is being used as a bargaining chip,” Hochul said this week — a statement we at the Alliance strongly echo.
At the federal level, court rulings continue to push the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits, rejecting attempts to use hunger as leverage in political negotiations. A federal judge in Rhode Island has now ordered the Trump administration to fully fund November SNAP benefits, rebuking its earlier plan to issue only partial payments covering roughly 50–65% of benefits. These rulings affirm that access to food is a basic right, not a political tool.
However, the situation remains fluid. The Trump-Vance Administration is appealing this latest ruling, claiming they can’t tap into other resources for funding. It is still unclear how much SNAP funding will ultimately be provided or when New Yorkers can expect to receive their November benefits. Many families who rely on SNAP are justifiably worried about how they will put food on the table in the days ahead.
The Alliance will continue to closely monitor developments in both the state and federal courts and provide timely updates to our community as soon as new details emerge. We will also continue to advocate aggressively for both state and federal action to ensure no one in New York goes hungry due to government inaction.
The right to food, housing, and stability should never be subject to partisan politics. The Alliance stands with Governor Hochul’s call for compassion and action — and we will keep fighting to ensure every New Yorker receives the support they deserve in this time of need.
Hochul Mobilizes SUNY Corps as SNAP Aid Faces Uncertainty
By Timothy Fanning | Times Union | November 6, 2025
ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday called on members of the Empire State Service Corps and other New Yorkers to take part in a statewide effort to address food insecurity as the federal government shutdown continues and concerns grow over potential disruptions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
On Friday, 500 members of New York’s Empire State Service Corps, the AmeriCorps initiative spanning 45 state university system campuses — will mobilize in what Hochul has declared as a “Day of Hunger Action.” The members, regardless of service focus, will help local food banks, pantries and campus basic needs programs.
“No one should go hungry or have to endure additional stress because the food assistance they expect and deserve is being used as a bargaining chip,” Hochul said. “Our state is stepping up.”
The move comes amid fears that disruptions in federal food assistance, including some Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, could deepen hardship for more than 3 million New Yorkers. Hochul has also declared a state of emergency in New York to address the loss of SNAP benefits and redirected $100 million to bolster food aid.
Last week, judges ordered the federal government to use contingency funds to provide SNAP benefits, but it’s unclear how much assistance will be provided or when it will come. The funds ran out on Nov. 1.
Area food pantries have seen an influx in demand, in part, because of the federal government shutdown, which has left food pantries in the Capital Region scrambling to find enough resources to feed the community, including the tens of thousands of people who rely on federal programs like SNAP.
John B. King, the SUNY chancellor, praised Hochul’s call to action, saying that students are “ready to step up in this food insecurity crisis.”
Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Fully Fund SNAP Benefits in November
By Geoff Mulvihill and Michael Casey | Associated Press | November 6, 2025
A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision that the administration promptly appealed.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. gave President Donald Trump’s administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though it’s unlikely the 42 million Americans — about 1 in 8, most of them in poverty — will see the money on the debit cards they use for groceries nearly that quickly.
The order was in response to a challenge from cities and nonprofits complaining that the administration was only offering to cover 65% of the maximum benefit, a decision that would have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.
“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said in a ruling from the bench after a brief hearing. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.”
McConnell was one of two judges who ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the federal shutdown.
Shortly after the judges’ rulings, lawyers for the Trump administration filed a motion to appeal, contesting both Thursday’s decision and the earlier one last Saturday that ordered the federal government to use emergency reserves to fund the food program throughout November.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters the ruling was “absurd.”
“What we’d like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government of course, then we can fund SNAP,” Vance said at an unrelated White House event. “But in the midst of a shutdown, we can’t have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation.”
The Trump administration chose partial payments this week
Last month, the administration said that it would halt SNAP payments for November if the government shutdown wasn’t resolved.
A coalition of cities and nonprofits sued in federal court in Rhode Island, and Democratic state officials from across the country did so in Massachusetts.
The judges in both cases ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.
The partial funding brought on complications
McConnell harshly criticized the Trump administration for making that choice.
“Without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry,” he said. “This should never happen in America. In fact, it’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here.”
Tyler Becker, the attorney for the government, unsuccessfully argued that the Trump administration had followed the court’s order in issuing the partial payments. “This all comes down to Congress not having appropriated funds because of the government shutdown,” he said.
Kristin Bateman, a lawyer for the coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations, told the judge the administration had other reasons for not fully funding the benefits.
“What defendants are really trying to do is to leverage people’s hunger to gain partisan political advantage in the shutdown fight,” Bateman told the court.
McConnell said last week’s order required that those payments be made “expeditiously” and “efficiently” — and by Wednesday — or a full payment would be required. “Nothing was done consistent with the court’s order to clear the way to expeditiously resolve it,” McConnell said.
There were other twists and turns this week
The administration said in a court filing on Monday that it could take weeks or even months for some states to make calculations and system changes to load the debit cards used in the SNAP program. At the time, it said it would fund 50% of the maximum benefits.
The next day, Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefits at all unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government. His press secretary later said that the partial benefits were being paid for November — and that it is future payments that are at risk if the shutdown continues.
And Wednesday night, it recalculated, telling states that there was enough money to pay for 65% of the maximum benefits.
Under a decades-old formula in federal regulations, everyone who received less than the maximum benefit would get a larger percentage reduction. Some families would have received nothing and some single people and two-person households could have gotten as little as $16.
Carmel Scaife, a former day care owner in Milwaukee who hasn’t been able to work since receiving multiple severe injuries in a car accident seven years ago, said she normally receives $130 a month from SNAP. She said that despite bargain hunting, that is not nearly enough for a month’s worth of groceries.
Scaife, 56, said that any cuts to her benefit will mean she will need to further tap her Social Security income for groceries. “That’ll take away from the bills that I pay,” she said. “But that’s the only way I can survive.”
The next legal step is unclear
This type of order is usually not subject to an appeal, but the Trump administration has challenged other rulings like it before.
An organization whose lawyers filed the challenge signaled it would continue the battle if needed.
“We shouldn’t have to force the President to care for his citizens,” Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement, “but we will do whatever is necessary to protect people and communities.”
It often takes SNAP benefits a week or more to be loaded onto debit cards once states initiate the process.
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Associated Press writers Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits in November | AP News