The Supreme Court is expected to say whether full SNAP food payments can resume

It is up to the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress to decide when full payments will resume under the SNAP food assistance program that helps 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries as financial pressures on families mount in some states.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule Tuesday on a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to continue blocking states from offering the full benefits, arguing that the money may be needed elsewhere.

The seesaw rulings so far have created a situation where beneficiaries in some states, including Hawaii and New Jersey, have received their full monthly benefits, and beneficiaries in other states, such as Nebraska and West Virginia, have seen nothing.

The legal wrangling could become moot if the US House of Representatives adopts legislation to quickly end the federal government shutdown and Trump signs it.

SNAP has been the center of an intense battle in court

The Trump administration chose to cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after October due to the shutdown. The decision sparked lawsuits and a series of swift and contradictory court rulings that take issue with government power — and affect 42 million Americans’ access to food.

The administration agreed with two rulings on October 31 from judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding for SNAP. Ultimately, she said, beneficiaries will receive up to 65% of their regular benefits. But it balked last week when a judge said it must fully fund the program for November, even if it meant taking money the government said it needed to preserve in case of emergencies elsewhere.

The US Supreme Court agreed to temporarily halt this order.

The Court of Appeal said Monday that full funding must resume — and that requirement is set to begin Tuesday night unless the Supreme Court acts again.

It’s also a point in congressional talks about reopening the government

The U.S. Senate on Monday passed legislation to reopen the federal government with a plan that includes replenishing SNAP funds.

House Speaker Mike Johnson asked House members to return to Washington to consider the agreement concluded by a small group of Democrats in the Senate with Republicans.

Trump did not say whether he would sign it if it reached his office, but he told reporters at the White House on Sunday that “it appears we are nearing the end of the shutdown.”

If the deal is finalized, it’s not clear how quickly SNAP benefits might kick in.

However, the Trump administration said in a filing Monday with the Supreme Court that the matter should not be up to the courts. “The solution to this crisis is not for the federal courts to reallocate resources without legal authority,” Attorney General John Sawyer said in newspapers. “The only way to end this crisis — which the executive branch insists on ending — is for Congress to reopen the government.”

The impact is immediate for beneficiaries

Successive legal rulings — as well as each state’s different responses to the shutdown — mean that people who rely on SNAP are in vastly different situations.

Some have all of their benefits, others have none. In states such as North Carolina and Texas, recipients received partial payments.

In Pennsylvania, full benefits went out for some people on Friday. But Jim Mallyard, 41, of Franklin said he had not received anything as of Monday.

Mallyard works full time caring for his blind wife, who suffered a series of strokes earlier this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.

That stress has been exacerbated by the temporary cessation of the $350 a month in SNAP he receives for himself, his wife and his daughter. He has yet to receive a SNAP payment for November, is down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left in his pantry — mostly rice and ramen.

“I spent a lot of late nights making sure I had everything up to make sure I was right,” Mallyard said. “To say that anxiety has been my problem for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”