USDA Says It Can’t Use School Lunch Money for Food Stamps

‘Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds are not a contingency fund for SNAP,’ a top Department of Agriculture official said in a court filing.

A member of the National Guard packs food at a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank facility, as nearly 42 million Americans face a potential lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known as food stamps, due to the second-longest U.S. government shutdown, in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, 2025. Daniel Cole/Reuters

The Trump administration said in a court filing on Monday that fully funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November could imperil the federal school lunch program amid an ongoing government shutdown.

In a court filing, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official said that a plan to use $4.65 billion from the USDA’s contingency fund to support around half of food stamp recipients would only partially fund the program.