Attorney General Ellison demands answers from Trump administration on SNAP funding due to lapse at end of month

Ellison urges USDA to use SNAP contingency fund to continue feeding people in need, including 440K Minnesotans

October 24, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison and 22 other attorneys general today sent a letter to the USDA’s Acting Associate Administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) demanding clarity and additional information on how USDA plans to proceed after alerting states that funding for critical nutrition programs may lapse in the near future because of the ongoing federal government shutdown. The letter also detailed the grave harm that will be caused to children, seniors, and veterans who rely on food assistance for their daily meals.

Minnesota receives roughly $1.4 billion a year to administer the program to roughly 440,000 hungry Minnesotans, including 152,000 children and 72,000 seniors.

"SNAP does tremendous good by helping families who’ve fallen on hard times put food on the table,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Today, I sent a letter to the Trump administration about the harm a delay in SNAP benefits will cause to hundreds of thousands of our neighbors. I also demanded information on what ability the Trump administration has to continue providing SNAP benefits during the shutdown. It is essential that any available funding should be used to ensure Minnesotans don’t go hungry.”

On October 10, 2025, USDA issued a letter to all state agencies and state agency directors that administer the SNAP program. The letter indicated that “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.” It also “direct[ed] States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State EBT vendors until further notice,” including “on-going SNAP benefits and daily files.”

In other words, without citing any legal authority or providing any reasoning, USDA prohibited states like Minnesota from sending already-calculated November allotments to EBT vendors for processing. USDA does have some authority to reduce SNAP benefits, or even suspend or cancel them under certain circumstances. However, USDA’s October 10 letter does not indicate that any of the legal requirements to do so have been met.

In addition, USDA appears to have at least $6 billion in SNAP contingency reserve funds that Congress appropriated for emergency situations like this. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argue the federal government should use those funds to continue providing SNAP benefits rather than direct states to suspend already-calculated allotments. Furthermore, USDA also has access to other funds that could also be used to provide SNAP benefits during the ongoing shutdown.

The attorneys general further argue that if carried out, USDA’s October 10 directive will harm millions of Americans and could cause significant hardship for the 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP to feed themselves and their families, including 400,000 Minnesotans who would go hungry without it. Even a temporary delay, which now appears inevitable, will have devastating effects on the American public and the national economy.

Attorney General Ellison and the coalition ask USDA to answer the following critical questions by October 27, 2025: