It’s up to the US Supreme Court and Congress to decide when full payments will resume under the SNAP food aid program that helps 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries as the financial pressures mount on families in some states.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule Tuesday on a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to keep blocking states from providing full benefits, arguing the money might be needed elsewhere.
The seesawing rulings so far have created a situation where beneficiaries in some states, including Hawaii and New Jersey, have received their full monthly allocations and those in others, such as Nebraska and West Virginia, have seen nothing.
The legal wrangling could be made moot if the US House adopts and Trump signs legislation to end the federal government shutdown quickly.
SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court
The Trump administration chose to cut off funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after October due to the shutdown. That decision sparked lawsuits and a string of swift and contradictory judicial rulings that deal with government power – and impact the food access for 42 million Americans.
The administration went along with a pair of rulings from Oct. 31 from judges who said the government must provide at least partial funding for SNAP. It eventually said that recipients would get up to 65 percent of their regular benefits. But it balked last week when one of the judges said that it must fund the program fully for November, even if itt means digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case of emergencies elsewhere.
The US Supreme Court agreed to pause that order.
An appeals court said Monday that full funding should resume – and that requirement is set to kick in Tuesday night unless the top court takes action again.
It’s also a point in Congressional talks about reopening government
The US Senate on Monday passed legislation to reopen the federal government with a plan that would include replenishing SNAP funds.
Speaker Mike Johnson told members of the House to return to Washington to consider the deal a small group of Senate Democrats made with Republicans.
Trump has not said whether he would sign it if it reaches his desk, but told reporters at the White House on Sunday that it “looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
If the deal is finalized, it’s not clear how quickly SNAP benefits might start flowing.
Still, the Trump administration said in a filing Monday with the Supreme Court that it shouldn’t be up to the courts. “The answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the papers. “The only way to end this crisis – which the Executive is adamant to end – is for Congress to reopen the government.”
The impact is urgent for beneficiaries
The cascading legal rulings – plus the varying responses of each state to the shutoff – means people who rely on SNAP are in vastly different situations.
Some have all their benefits, some have none. In states including North Carolina and Texas, beneficiaries have received partial amounts.
In Pennsylvania, full benefits went out to some people on Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received anything by Monday.
Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and had a series of strokes earlier this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe medical complications from surgery last year.
That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 a month he receives in SNAP for himself, his wife and daughter. He has yet to receive any SNAP payment for November, and he’s down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left in the pantry – mostly rice and ramen.
“It’s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything down to the penny to make sure I was right,” Malliard said. “To say anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”
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US Supreme Court expected to rule whether full SNAP food payments can resume
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US Supreme Court expected to rule whether full SNAP food payments can resume
- The seesawing rulings so far have created a situation where beneficiaries in some states have received their full monthly allocations and those in others have seen nothing
Dignified transfer for Kentucky soldier who was the 7th US service member to die in Iran war
ELIZABETHTOWN, USA: Vice President JD Vance joined the grieving family of a Kentucky man who was the seventh US service member to die in combat during the Iran war as his remains were brought back to the US Monday evening.
The dignified transfer, a solemn event that honors US service members killed in action, took place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. He died Sunday after being wounded during a March 1 attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, a Pentagon statement said.
Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saluted alongside high ranking military officials as the transfer case draped with the American flag was carried from the military aircraft and into an awaiting vehicle.
Mike Bell, retired pastor of Glendale Christian Church, said he’d known Pennington since he was a toddler and got a call from Pennington’s father when the soldier was hurt.
“I talked to Tim Saturday morning, and he was doing a little better, and they were talking about maybe moving him to Germany,” Bell said. Tim Pennington called again that evening, Bell said, to ask for prayers as his son’s condition was worsening, and then later told him the soldier had succumbed to his injuries.
“He was just a quiet person,” said Bell, noting that Pennington attended the church’s after-school program. “I mean, he never attracted attention because he was just steady doing what he needed to do to do it.”
State and local officials grieve
Pennington was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
The unit’s mission focused on “missile warning, GPS, and long-haul satellite communications,” according to their website.
“This just breaks my heart,” Keith Taul, judge-executive of Hardin County, where Pennington was from, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “I have known the family for at least 30 years. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they are experiencing.”
Glendale is an unincorporated town of about 300 residents south of the Hardin County seat of Elizabethtown.
In a statement posted on social media, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called Pennington “a hero who sacrificed everything serving our country.”
Six other soldiers killed
The other six service members killed since the conflict began on Feb. 28 were Army reservists killed in Kuwait when an Iranian drone struck an operations center at a civilian port.
President Donald Trump on Saturday joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base at the dignified transfer for those six US soldiers.
The dignified transfer is considered one of the most somber duties of any commander in chief. During his first term, Trump said bearing witness to the transfer was “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.
‘An American hero’
Pennington graduated in 2017 from Central Hardin High School, where he was enrolled in the automotive technology pathway, district spokesman John Wright told the AP. Former automotive tech instructor Tom Pitt, who taught Pennington in 2017 at Hardin County Early College and Career Center, called him “an American hero.”
“A lot of times as a teacher, you have students who are smart, you have students who are charismatic, who are likable, dare I say, enchanting,” said Pitt, who called Pennington Nate. “Rarely do you have students who are all of those. And Ben Pennington was all of those. He was basically the quintessential all-American.”
Photos on his and family members’ Facebook pages show that Pennington achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in August 2017. His Eagle project was the demolition of some old baseball dugouts in Glendale, said Darin Life, former committee chairman for Troop 221.
“If you look up Eagle Scout, his picture’s probably there,” said Life, who knew Pennington throughout his scouting career. “He loved his country. I would have expected nothing less of him than to lose his life protecting his country.”
Awards and decorations
A month after his Eagle ceremony, Pennington posted a photo of himself taking the oath of enlistment. He entered the service as a unit supply specialist and was assigned to the Space and Missile Command on June 10, 2025, the Army said in a release.
Among his awards and decorations were the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
“The US Army Space and Missile Defense Command is deeply saddened by the loss of Sgt. Pennington,” said Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, USASMDC commanding general. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country he loved.”
Col. Michael F. Dyer, 1st Space Brigade commander, described Pennington as “a dedicated and experienced noncommissioned officer who led with strength, professionalism and sense of duty.”
Pennington will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, the Pentagon said.
The dignified transfer, a solemn event that honors US service members killed in action, took place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. He died Sunday after being wounded during a March 1 attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, a Pentagon statement said.
Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saluted alongside high ranking military officials as the transfer case draped with the American flag was carried from the military aircraft and into an awaiting vehicle.
Mike Bell, retired pastor of Glendale Christian Church, said he’d known Pennington since he was a toddler and got a call from Pennington’s father when the soldier was hurt.
“I talked to Tim Saturday morning, and he was doing a little better, and they were talking about maybe moving him to Germany,” Bell said. Tim Pennington called again that evening, Bell said, to ask for prayers as his son’s condition was worsening, and then later told him the soldier had succumbed to his injuries.
“He was just a quiet person,” said Bell, noting that Pennington attended the church’s after-school program. “I mean, he never attracted attention because he was just steady doing what he needed to do to do it.”
State and local officials grieve
Pennington was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
The unit’s mission focused on “missile warning, GPS, and long-haul satellite communications,” according to their website.
“This just breaks my heart,” Keith Taul, judge-executive of Hardin County, where Pennington was from, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “I have known the family for at least 30 years. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they are experiencing.”
Glendale is an unincorporated town of about 300 residents south of the Hardin County seat of Elizabethtown.
In a statement posted on social media, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called Pennington “a hero who sacrificed everything serving our country.”
Six other soldiers killed
The other six service members killed since the conflict began on Feb. 28 were Army reservists killed in Kuwait when an Iranian drone struck an operations center at a civilian port.
President Donald Trump on Saturday joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base at the dignified transfer for those six US soldiers.
The dignified transfer is considered one of the most somber duties of any commander in chief. During his first term, Trump said bearing witness to the transfer was “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.
‘An American hero’
Pennington graduated in 2017 from Central Hardin High School, where he was enrolled in the automotive technology pathway, district spokesman John Wright told the AP. Former automotive tech instructor Tom Pitt, who taught Pennington in 2017 at Hardin County Early College and Career Center, called him “an American hero.”
“A lot of times as a teacher, you have students who are smart, you have students who are charismatic, who are likable, dare I say, enchanting,” said Pitt, who called Pennington Nate. “Rarely do you have students who are all of those. And Ben Pennington was all of those. He was basically the quintessential all-American.”
Photos on his and family members’ Facebook pages show that Pennington achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in August 2017. His Eagle project was the demolition of some old baseball dugouts in Glendale, said Darin Life, former committee chairman for Troop 221.
“If you look up Eagle Scout, his picture’s probably there,” said Life, who knew Pennington throughout his scouting career. “He loved his country. I would have expected nothing less of him than to lose his life protecting his country.”
Awards and decorations
A month after his Eagle ceremony, Pennington posted a photo of himself taking the oath of enlistment. He entered the service as a unit supply specialist and was assigned to the Space and Missile Command on June 10, 2025, the Army said in a release.
Among his awards and decorations were the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
“The US Army Space and Missile Defense Command is deeply saddened by the loss of Sgt. Pennington,” said Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, USASMDC commanding general. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country he loved.”
Col. Michael F. Dyer, 1st Space Brigade commander, described Pennington as “a dedicated and experienced noncommissioned officer who led with strength, professionalism and sense of duty.”
Pennington will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, the Pentagon said.
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