Roughly 42 million Americans—about one in eight—depend on food stamps each month, using electronic benefit cards to buy groceries. Advocates warned that any delay or reduction in payments could have severe consequences for families who rely on the program to meet basic needs.

McConnell, an Obama appointee, ordered the USDA to guarantee that full SNAP benefits for November are delivered to recipients by the end of Monday, November 3, or that partial payments be issued no later than Wednesday, November 5.

“There is no question that the congressionally approved contingency funds must be used now because of the shutdown,” the judge claimed, though Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the law is clear – contintency funds can only be used when the program is fully funded and only in natural disasters.

“In fact, the president during his first term issued guidance indicating that these contingency funds