SNAP benefits to resume Sunday for New Yorkers, Gov. Hochul announces

New Yorkers will begin receiving full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits starting Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday, following a federal court order directing the federal government to restore funding for the program that helps feed 1.8 million NYC residents.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to fully fund SNAP, which had lapsed on November 1 during the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified states on Nov. 7 that it would comply, according to a memo sent to state SNAP agencies. Gov. Hochul said the state expects the first of about 3 million eligible New Yorkers to regain access to their benefits beginning Sunday.

“Let me be clear, President Trump is hellbent on preventing millions of Americans from putting food on the table. He’s made decision after decision to withhold funding that feeds families, seniors and children — and continues doubling down on this cruelty by challenging the courts’ clear orders,” she said in a statement.

Before the benefits lapsed, Hochul had previously stressed that state spending could not replace federal SNAP funding in the long term, noting that New York administers approximately $650 million per month in federal benefits.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who joined the multistate lawsuits seeking to require the federal government to use contingency funds to continue SNAP, criticized the administration’s efforts to block the benefits.

“I am relieved that people will get the food they need, but it is outrageous that it took a lawsuit to make the federal government feed its own people,” James said.

Last week, two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled that the administration could not withhold November SNAP benefits because of the shutdown. U.S. District Judge John McConnell of RI ordered on Thursday that the full benefits must be issued.

Even as USDA began following Judge McConnell’s directive, the Trump administration on Friday asked the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to temporarily block that ruling. The administration argued it should not be required to spend beyond the available contingency funds and should be allowed to move forward with its plan to provide reduced SNAP payments for November.