November SNAP benefits in Pa. should be paid by weekend

Pennsylvanians should get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November by the weekend, if not sooner.

SNAP payments stopped Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown.

About two million – or 15 percent – of people living in the commonwealth received more than $350 million, combined, in assistance for groceries in September, according to the state Department of Human Services. The agency released a statement Thursday afternoon announcing the full resumption of SNAP following the end of the shutdown.

Payments for early November were missed as the Trump administration fought a court order to make them despite the federal government shutdown.

The situation was exacerbated by the shutdown’s effect on other components of the nation’s social safety net – such as the Low-income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

Pennsylvania’s scenario was more complicated due to a 135-day state budget impasse that has since concluded with Gov. Josh Shapiro signing the 2025-26 budget into law Wednesday.

During October, food banks along with private donors and state and county governments mobilized to try to help compensate for the looming SNAP loss.

Last week, a succession of confusing actions by various branches of the government worsened the chaos:  the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent money to states to partially pay SNAP, prompting some – including Pennsylvania – to announce and issue benefits to those who’d missed payments already (typically, people get SNAP benefits on a specified business day within the first half of every month). USDA then told states to undo the payments as the Supreme Court temporarily blocked them.  

Meanwhile, more stringent qualifications for the program are setting in. They include ending work exemptions for veterans, older adults and others.