A small percentage of Coloradans received fully funded food assistance for November before the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court ruling mandating the benefits continue amid the federal shutdown.
While Colorado officials can’t issue full payments to the remaining residents, they don’t plan to issue any refunds, Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.
President Donald Trump’s administration demanded late Saturday night that states “undo” full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.
Colorado’s SNAP program relies on $120 million in federal funding to feed more than 600,000 residents in need, half of whom are children, according to Polis’s office. That money has been frozen during the federal government shutdown.
“Nearly 32,000 Coloradans received full support to put food on the table before the (Trump) Administration asked the Supreme Court to halt all efforts to keep children and families fed,” Polis stated Sunday. “The state has not reversed those payments as they were allowed at the time.”
Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the SNAP program in November despite the ongoing government shutdown. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states, and the Trump administration belatedly said the program could continue.
On Friday night, however, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused the two rulings ordering the SNAP disbursement while the nation’s highest court considered the Trump administration’s appeal. That led the Department of Agriculture on Saturday to write state SNAP directors to warn them it now considers payments under the prior orders “unauthorized.”
The 32,000 Coloradans who received their full SNAP benefits for November make up roughly 5% of the more than 600,000 state residents who rely on the federal funding, according to Polis’s office.
State officials announced they were working to distribute the food assistance funds on Friday, before the Supreme Court halted operations.
Colorado officials are working to provide the remaining eligible residents with up to 65% of their normal benefits over the next few days, Polis stated.
That number comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which issued a memorandum Saturday night telling state SNAP directors to again halt full SNAP benefit dispersals.
“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the USDA, wrote in the memo. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”
The decision for the federal government to cover only 65% of the maximum benefit will leave some recipients without funds for the month.
Penn warned in the memo that states could face penalties if they did not comply. It was unclear whether the directive applied to states that used their own funds to keep the program alive or only to those relying entirely on federal funds.
Federal agriculture officials announced just a day earlier that they were in the process of enabling states to administer full payments, in compliance with the order from the District Court of Rhode Island.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not respond Sunday to a request for comment.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, on Sunday called the directive “shocking” if it applies to states, like hers, that used their own money to prop up the program.
“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done,” Murkowski said. “But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized.”
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts said SNAP benefits were processed and placed on EBT cards before the U.S. Supreme Court order Friday night, in line with the previous guidance from the USDA. She said that if Trump attempts to claw back the money, “we will see him in court.”
“Nothing is preventing the Trump administration from fully funding SNAP benefits,” Polis stated. “They are simply choosing not to. … The fastest way to clean up this mess would be for the federal government to drop its court appeals.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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