Hawaii SNAP recipients receive federal funds before court decision temporarily freezes aid

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM

Volunteer Bill Reed brings canned goods to a waiting vehicle during a Hawaii Foodbank distribution event at Aloha Stadium in Halawa Thursday.

Hawaii SNAP recipients received their full federal food aid benefits today and will also get the additional $250 a person from the Hawaii Emergency Food Assistance Program announced last week by Gov. Josh Green.

“SNAP benefits are available for use on a household’s Electronic Benefits Transfer card for those who were approved for November 2025. Hawaii moved forward to issue the full amount for federally funded SNAP benefits earlier today in accordance with the Nov. 6, 2025, order from the District Court of Rhode Island,” Hawaii’s Department of Human Services said on its website, linking to the USDA Food and Nutrition Services’ announcement of restored funding.

DHS said the federal SNAP issuance does not affect eligibility for HEFAP, the state-funded emergency food aid, which will provide $250 per SNAP-eligible household member, restricted for the purchase of food. This separate money, deposited on households’ EBT cards, will be available to spend Monday, DHS said.

Hawaii is among several states that announced the return of full funding in the wake of a Rhode Island judge’s order that was upheld today by a U.S. Appeals Court.

However, the federal legal battle continues.

The U.S. Supreme Court late today allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold for now about $4 billion needed to fully fund a food aid program for 42 million low-income Americans this month amid the federal government shutdown.

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The court’s action, known as an administrative stay, gives a lower court additional time to consider the administration’s formal request to only partially fund SNAP, also known as food stamps, for November.

But it was unclear late Friday how the stay would affect Hawaii SNAP recipients, if at all, because full November payments were deposited on their EBT cards before the stay was issued.

Spokespeople from the state Department of Human Services and the Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to emailed questions.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who issued the stay, set it to expire in two days.

The administration had filed an emergency request hours earlier asking the justices to put on hold a Rhode Island-based judge’s order that gave the administration until Friday to fully fund the program, which costs $8.5 billion to $9 billion a month.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence on Thursday came after the administration said it would provide $4.65 billion in emergency funding to partially cover SNAP benefits for November.

Department of Justice lawyers said in a Supreme Court filing that McConnell’s ruling, if allowed to stand, will “sow further shutdown chaos” by prompting “a run on the bank by way of judicial fiat.”

McConnell last week ordered the USDA to use emergency SNAP funding to cover part of this month’s cost. In Thursday’s ruling, he ordered the USDA to make up for the shortfall with money from a separate department program with $23.35 billion in funding, derived from tariffs, that supports child nutrition.

McConnell, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, accused the Republican Trump administration of withholding SNAP benefits for “political reasons.”

The ruling handed a win to a coalition of legal challengers comprising cities and nonprofits represented by the liberal legal group Democracy Forward, and prompted the administration to ask the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today to halt the order.

The plaintiffs told the 1st Circuit in court papers that the administration showed disregard for the harm that would befall nearly one in eight Americans if McConnell’s decision were paused and SNAP recipients were denied full benefits.

“The court should deny Defendants’ motion and not allow them to further delay getting vital food assistance to individuals and families who need it now,” the lawyers wrote.

The 1st Circuit today denied the Trump administration’s request to pause McConnell’s ruling, prompting the Justice Department’s emergency request to the Supreme Court.

The USDA today informed states it would be making funds available to fully fund SNAP, even as the administration filed court papers seeking to block McConnell’s ruling, causing confusion.

After receiving the USDA memo, states including Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts said they had directed state agencies to issue SNAP benefits in full for November. Hawaii officials said the federal benefits were added to SNAP recipients’ accounts by about 9:30 a.m. today.

SNAP benefits lapsed at the start of the month for the first time in the program’s 60-year history. Recipients have turned to already strained food pantries and made sacrifices like forgoing medications to stretch tight budgets.

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