(NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has instructed states to “immediately undo” actions they’ve taken to send out full SNAP benefits, according to multiple reports.
The USDA told states that those who do not comply may lose out on federal cost-sharing of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, The Associated Press, CNN, and The New York Times reported Sunday, citing the directive that was sent out on Saturday. States could also be held responsible for the funds that have been administered.
“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”
While the USDA oversees SNAP, states are tasked with administering it. It was unclear if the directive applies to states that used their own funds to keep the program alive or to ones relying on federal money entirely.
Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program in November. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states.
On Friday, however, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily halted an order that required the Trump administration to fund SNAP for November. The administration had on Thursday been instructed to move about $4 billion from child nutrition programs to help fund SNAP for the roughly 42 million people who receive the grocery assistance, The Hill reported.
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Before the Trump administration went to the Supreme Court about the matter, the USDA had instructed SNAP directors throughout the country that it was working to comply and process the payments.
Some SNAP recipients — covering 1 in 8 Americans — received full benefits on Friday, including those in Wisconsin, according to the New York Times.
In a statement Sunday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers responded to the USDA’s Saturday directive with a simple “No.”
“Consistent with a court order, Wisconsin legally loaded FoodShare payments to cards. Now, the Trump Administration has spent the last 48 hours making a last-ditch effort to yank those payments from nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including 270,000 kids. It’s pathetic,” Evers wrote on X. “We will continue to fight against the Trump Administration’s efforts to take food away from Wisconsin’s kids, families, and seniors, and we are eager for the court to resolve this and provide certainty for families and businesses.”
According to a Saturday court filing submitted by 26 states, Wisconsin has “insufficient funds to reimburse retailers for their provisions sold to SNAP recipients” after the U.S. Treasury declined the transaction to fill the state’s SNAP EBT cards.
The lack of money could leave vendors unpaid and trigger escalating legal claims, the states warned. “States could face demands to return hundreds of millions of dollars in the aggregate,” the filing at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals says.
The USDA did not immediately respond to Nexstar’s request for comment.
Other states that provided full SNAP benefits to at least some recipients on Friday include Hawaii, Oregon, Colorado, California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, on Sunday called the directive “shocking” if it applies to states, like hers, that used their own money to prop up the program.
“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done,” Murkowski said. “But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized.”
In South Dakota, benefits were sent to go out in full on Monday to the state’s roughly 75,000 recipients. On Saturday, the South Dakota Department of Social Services said that was no longer the case as it “awaits instruction” about providing benefits following the Supreme Court’s stay.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
