"The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, sent letters on Oct. 10 to the state agencies that administer it telling them not to send certain files to the contractors that would clear the way for the EBT cards to be loaded at the start of November.
Different states send that information at different points in the month.
Carolyn Vega, the associate director of policy analysis at Share Our Strength, an anti-poverty advocacy group, said that pausing sending the information now doesn’t mean that cards can’t be loaded next month, with or without resumption of government operations.
But it’s not good news, either. “The question marks are trending in a bad direction for November,” she said." - APNews, 10/16/2025
"After Democrats and Republicans failed to come to an agreement to extend government funding on Oct. 1, 2025, the USDA said in its Lapse of Funding plan that the SNAP program has been provided for with multiyear contingency funds that could be used to cover state administrative expenses during a federal government shutdown.
"These multiyear contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year," the plan states.
However, it's unclear if the USDA plans to utilize those funds to ensure November SNAP benefits. The agency did not respond to CBS News' request for comment on whether that option is under consideration." - CBS News, 10/20/2025