Democrats have spent weeks maintaining that the USDA has enough backup funding to keep SNAP food stamp benefits flowing past November 1, despite what they call the “Schumer Shutdown.” Their argument resurfaced Wednesday when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) insisted the Biden administration possessed “the funding to make sure not a single American goes hungry” even if Congress failed to pass a budget.

“They have the money,” Jeffries claimed. “But they are choosing to withhold funding for SNAP because they want to punish hungry children, hungry veterans, hungry seniors, hungry women, and hungry families, as part of their continued effort to hurt everyday Americans.”

Republicans, however, pushed back hard against that narrative during a Friday press conference. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins both accused Jeffries and other Democrats of misleading the public, calling the claims of available funding simply untrue.

The event, hosted by House GOP members, also highlighted Republican efforts to combat fraud and abuse within the food stamp program—efforts they say Democrats have repeatedly opposed.

Rollins delivered one of the strongest rebuttals, arguing that Democrats’ insistence that the USDA has unused money available is false. She said the controversy illustrates the collapse of Democrats’ claims to be “the party of the people.”

“The fact that the Democrats are saying, ‘But wait, USDA has money in their accounts’ … is a lie,” Rollins stated.

She confirmed that the USDA notified state agencies twice in October that SNAP benefits would stop on November 1 if Congress failed to pass funding legislation. According to Rollins, Democrats have seized on a $5.3 billion contingency reserve within the USDA, portraying it as available funds. But she emphasized that the money cannot be accessed unless Congress first approves the base funding for the program.

“There is a contingency fund at USDA,” Rollins said. “But it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded.”

Rollins explained that the House passed a temporary funding bill on September 19 to keep the government open through November 21, but the Senate has failed to take it up. Without that approval, she said, the USDA is legally prohibited from making use of its reserve funds.

Republicans argue that if Democrats want SNAP fully funded, they should simply reopen the government and pass the continuing resolution already approved by the House. The responsibility for funding programs such as SNAP, they stress, belongs solely to Congress—not to federal agencies.

Democrats, on the other hand, have blocked efforts to pass the House spending measure 14 times in the Senate. Senators in Schumer’s caucus have demanded concessions, including expanded healthcare access for illegal immigrants and the continuation of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.

But the legal battle over SNAP funding took an unexpected turn late Friday when two federal judges—in Massachusetts and Rhode Island—issued rulings ordering the USDA to release its contingency funds to help cover November food benefits. The decisions directly contradicted the USDA’s interpretation of the law.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani and U.S. District Judge John McConnell, both appointed by former President Barack Obama, declared that the agency did indeed have the authority to draw from its roughly $5.3 billion in reserves, even if that amount was insufficient to cover the full $9.2 billion needed for November SNAP payments.

McConnell ruled that “there is no doubt that the contingency funds are appropriated funds that are necessary to carry out the program’s operation.”

Talwani, in her decision, said the USDA could also temporarily transfer money from nearly $17 billion in other nutrition accounts to prevent any benefit reductions, though agency officials warned such transfers could disrupt other federal nutrition programs.

Even with the court rulings, the USDA cautioned that technical challenges could delay the distribution of benefits. States typically begin issuing SNAP payments on the first of the month, but the sudden order to release reserve funds may require rapid system changes that could slow down the process.

Millions of families relying on November benefits may still face uncertainty as USDA staff scramble to comply.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump placed the blame squarely on Senate Democrats. “All the Democrats have to do is say, let’s go,” he said. “They don’t have to do anything—all they have to do is say the government is open.”

As the standoff continues, the fate of November SNAP benefits hangs between court rulings, political brinkmanship, and the capacity of state agencies to react before time runs out.