{"id":15879,"date":"2025-10-31T13:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T19:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-administration-blocked-from-cutting-off-snap-benefits-as-two-judges-issue-orders\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:35:21","slug":"trump-administration-blocked-from-cutting-off-snap-benefits-as-two-judges-issue-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-administration-blocked-from-cutting-off-snap-benefits-as-two-judges-issue-orders\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration blocked from cutting off SNAP benefits as two judges issue orders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Volunteer
Volunteer Cindy Leiva helps load a vehicle during a food distribution targeting federal employee households affected by the federal shutdown as well as SNAP recipients, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Eric Gay)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 A federal judge in Boston ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s plan to pause a food assistance program for 42 million people was illegal \u2013 but gave the Trump administration until Monday to respond to her finding before she decides on a motion to force the benefits be paid despite the ongoing government shutdown.<\/p>\n

At nearly the same time Friday, a Rhode Island federal judge in a similar case brought by cities and nonprofit groups ordered USDA to continue payments and granted a request for a temporary restraining order.<\/p>\n

In Massachusetts, in a Friday afternoon order, District Court of Massachusetts Judge Indira Talwani said she would continue to take \u201cunder advisement\u201d a coalition of Democratic states\u2019 request to force the release of funds from a contingency account holding about $6 billion.<\/p>\n

Her ruling came a day before a cutoff of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to low-income households.<\/p>\n

Because Congress is locked in a stalemate over a stopgap spending bill and did not appropriate money for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, administration officials say the program cannot provide federal funds beginning Saturday. In states, SNAP benefits are loaded onto cards on varying dates, but the cutoff would be effective for November benefits.<\/p>\n

Talwani, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, called the administration\u2019s conclusion it can\u2019t provide SNAP funding \u201cerroneous,\u201d and said the reserve fund was sufficient for SNAP benefits to flow to states and the vendors that add money to debit-like cards issued to the program\u2019s beneficiaries that are used to purchase groceries.<\/p>\n

The law creating the program mandated that benefits continue, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants are statutorily mandated to use the previously appropriated SNAP contingency reserve when necessary and also have discretion to use other previously appropriated funds,\u201d Talwani wrote.<\/p>\n

Talwani ordered the administration to say by Monday whether it would provide at least partial benefits for November.<\/p>\n

The 25 states that sued were Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, Wisconsin Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The District of Columbia also sued.<\/p>\n

In Rhode Island, where the judge granted a temporary restraining order, the advocacy group Democracy Forward, which was among those bringing the suit, praised the move.<\/p>\n

\n

Food Banks and Pantries<\/h4>\n

ECHO Food Bank<\/strong>Address: 401 South Commercial Avenue, Farmington, NM 87401Services: Food pantry for all ages and low-income individualshttps:\/\/echoinc.org\/echo-food-bank\/<\/a>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

Frontline Mission Inc.<\/strong>Address: 129 North Behrend Ave, Farmington, NM 87401Services: Nonprofit organization providing food to those in needHours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FrontlineMissionInc\/<\/a>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

Oasis Ministries \u2013 The Lords Pantry<\/strong>Address: 117 E. Youth St., Farmington, NM 87401Services: Food boxes and clothing on Thursdayshttps:\/\/www.theoasisnm.org\/thelordspantry<\/a>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

Crisis Closet<\/strong>Address: 1010 Ridgeway Place, Farmington, NM 87401Services: Free food and clothinghttps:\/\/www.findhelp.org\/san-juan-baptist-association\u2013farmington-nm\u2013crisis-closet\/4992206968193024?postal=87402<\/a>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

Feeding America: Road Runner Food Bank<\/strong>Website: Use the Feeding America website to locate food banks and meal programs. Note that some locations may have additional requirements.https:\/\/www.rrfb.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cA federal court today granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump-Vance administration\u2019s unlawful effort to halt the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown,\u201d the group said. \u201cThe decision ensures that millions of children, seniors, veterans, and families will continue to receive essential food assistance while the case proceeds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The judge in that case, John James McConnell Jr., said the administration\u2019s actions violated a key federal administrative law against arbitrary and capricious executive action and federal spending laws \u201cby disregarding Congress\u2019s direction that SNAP must continue operating,\u201d Democracy Forward said.<\/p>\n

McConnell also was appointed by Obama.<\/p>\n

Local food resources<\/div>\n

Ballantine Communications Inc. has created resource guides specific to Montezuma County, Dolores County, San Juan County, N.M., and La Plata County with information about free food, grocery support and SNAP benefits. To view the resource guides, visit:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Montezuma County Cares: https:\/\/www.the-journal.com\/montezuma-county-cares\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Durango Cares: durangoherald.com\/durango-cares\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 San Juan County: https:\/\/www.tricityrecordnm.com\/san-juan-county-cares\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Source NM is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, the nation\u2019s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Administration has until Monday to respond <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1452,28,138,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-government-aid","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19893,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15879\/revisions\/19893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15879"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}