Two federal judges on Friday ordered the Trump administration to break open emergency reserve funds to help cover food stamp benefits for tens of millions of Americans in November, a sharp rebuke to the USDA’s claim it couldn’t use the cash during the ongoing shutdown.

The rulings, emanating from suits in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, reject the agency’s argument that a $5.3 billion contingency fund was off limits, even as the government closure stretches into its second month.

SNAP, the federal food stamp program, costs between $8 billion and $9 billion each month, meaning the ordered release won’t fully cover November benefits. Still, it marks a rare instance of the courts attempting to force the administration’s hand during a shutdown standoff.

“There is no doubt that the … contingency funds are appropriated funds that are without a doubt necessary to carry out the program’s operation,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island said. “The shutdown of the government through funding doesn’t do away with SNAP, it just does away with the funding of it.”

McConnell ruled just minutes after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a near-identical decision. Both are Obama-era appointees. They also noted the administration could tap nearly $17 billion more to fully fund November SNAP payments — though the White House has resisted, saying that would hurt child nutrition programs.

“This court has now clarified that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program. And while these contingency funds reportedly are insufficient to cover the entire cost of SNAP for November, Defendants also may supplement the Contingency Funds by authorizing a transfer of additional funds … to avoid any reductions,” Talwani wrote.

Even with the court orders, millions could still see delays. SNAP benefits were supposed to start going out on Nov. 1, but state systems and the USDA now have to scramble to restart payments.

President Donald Trump hinted Friday the funding crunch might not be as dire as his own officials have claimed — suggesting the administration could keep benefits flowing beyond Nov. 1.

“Well, there always is,” Trump said when asked whether the administration could locate money for SNAP, before accusing Democrats of prolonging the shutdown. “But all the Democrats have to do is say, let’s go. I mean, they don’t have to do anything — all they have to do is say the government is open.”

In more than five decades of the program’s existence, a government shutdown has never halted distribution of SNAP funds — though the 2018-19 stalemate came close.

This week’s legal blitz came from Democratic attorneys general and governors in 25 states and Washington, D.C., as well as a separate challenge filed in Rhode Island by cities, nonprofits, unions, and small businesses.

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