The Trump administration has confirmed it would not use $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits flowing into November.

Gov. Tim Walz is set to announce emergency funding for Minnesota food shelves as the ongoing government shutdown threatens to cut off SNAP benefits for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans.

Without SNAP benefits, one of the only options is food shelves, which many SNAP recipients already use. The average SNAP benefit per person in Minnesota is $157 a month, or just over $5 a day. But food shelves are already struggling to meet demand. The Food Group reports visits to Minnesota food shelves rose 18% between 2023 and 2024.

More than 200 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter Friday to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urging her to use the contingency fund to continue the program.

The potential SNAP benefit delay could increase growing hunger crisis in Texas, a state which has the highest population of food insecure people in the U.S.

As the federal government shutdown drags on, 42 million Americans, including 3 million Floridians, brace for the possibility that their SNAP benefits won’t arrive in November.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Monday that contingency funds are "not legally available" to cover SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown.

A USDA notice says no SNAP benefits will be issued on November 1 unless lawmakers end the shutdown. The standoff, now the second-longest in US history, threatens food support for the most vulnerable Americans as Congress struggles to reach a funding agreement.