EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The 42 million Americans, including nearly 70 thousand households in El Paso County, who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to afford groceries are getting a better idea of how big (or how small) their benefits will be in November when they are eventually issued.
The Trump administration announced Monday that SNAP would be partially funded in November following two judges’ orders to use an emergency fund to keep aid flowing during what is now the longest federal government shutdown in American history. However, benefits could still take weeks or even months to reach people, officials warn.
Once payments are issued, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, is warning recipients to expect about half of their usual monthly benefits. The emergency fund the government is tapping into isn’t big enough to cover 100% of benefits, the agency said.
Due to the shutdown and the lack of funds needed to fully cover SNAP benefits, officials at the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank are preparing for an increase in demand.
“We have had to shift our food sourcing model quite a bit,” said Kris Yagel, interim CEO of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. “This food bank here in El Paso, like most food banks, relies largely on donated food from our network around the country. We’ve reallocated some funds and we’ve gone on offense so to speak. We’ve gone out and purchased food to have extra on hand.”
El Paso’s food bank has put together over 2,000 emergency boxes consisting of non-perishable food items with a longer shelf life. El Pasoans Fighting Hunger currently has enough food for 10,000 emergency boxes with the ability to purchase more, if needed.
Yagel, who was trained in the military to be impartial to political matters, says the inaction from lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to fund the government and programs like SNAP has been disappointing.
“I’m impartial [to political matter] to this day, but I am frustrated,” said Yagel. “The enemy here is hunger. It’s an enemy that’s going to plague the earth to the end of times. It’s unrelenting and it’s going to keep coming at people, creating terror within families. We are expecting that from hunger, but what we’re not expecting is friendly fire. That’s how I’m seeing this and it’s 100 percent frustrating.”
For November, the changes to maximum benefits for people in the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Washington, D.C., are:
| Household size | Maximum benefit in a normal month | Maximum benefit in November 2025 |
| 1 | $298 | $149 |
| 2 | $546 | $273 |
| 3 | $785 | $392 |
| 4 | $994 | $497 |
| 5 | $1,183 | $591 |
| 6 | $1,421 | $710 |
| 7 | $1,571 | $785 |
| 8 | $1,789 | $894 |
| Each additional person | $218 | $109 |
When will November SNAP payments be issued?
Five days into November, SNAP benefits are already delayed for millions of people. Once the funds are freed up, it will take time to reload EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards, the debit cards beneficiaries use to buy groceries. The reloading process takes up to two weeks in some states.
The USDA also warned in a court filing that it could take weeks or even months for states to make all the system changes needed to send out reduced benefits.
The picture is further complicated by the states’ patchwork response to the lack of funding. While SNAP is federally funded, it’s administered at the state and local level, and every state is doing things a little differently as the government shutdown drags on.
While some states, like New Mexico and Virginia, have tapped into their own emergency funds to reload EBT cards, others are waiting for the federal government to act. Many states are boosting donations to food banks, but aren’t yet giving people direct payments.
Nexstar, KTSM’s parent company, contacted the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service department for an update on when the agency would release funds for November SNAP benefits. A spokesperson declined to give details on timing, instead saying people should check with state agencies for more information.
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