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The head of Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families said SNAP recipients in the state can expect to receive partial benefits this month. That’s after an update Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that contingency funds would be used after a legal dispute.

Commissioner Tikki Brown said under the guidance from the USDA, Minnesota’s roughly 440,000 SNAP recipients could expect to see about half of their typical EBT benefits for November. Though that would be decreased by another 30 percent for recipients who are working, under the parameters issued by the federal government. 

Brown said the state is working to update its software with the new formula to get November benefits out the door. But it’s still not clear when that will take place.

“We are incredibly disappointed in the information we received from the USDA, given the complexity that this requires,” Brown said. “It requires a complete recalculation and a complete recoding of our system. So our teams are working on a number of scenarios, and we don’t, unfortunately, yet have a time frame.”

The Trump administration had said it wouldn’t pay out SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown despite having $4.6 billion in a contingency fund for emergencies. Typically the government pays out $9 billion in SNAP benefits each month. Two dozen states challenged the decision in court and a pair of judges ruled that the administration had to pay out the funds.

Brown said that Minnesotans who applied for SNAP benefits in October and were approved may also see a lag in getting benefits. The state’s vendor has said it won’t pay out about five percent of October payments because it has concerns about legal guidance from the USDA and isn’t assured that the federal government will pay it back for those costs.

“We have a series of, or, you know, some amount in the thousands of individuals who will expect benefits on their card and will go to the grocery store and not have food benefits available for their grocery store purchases,” Brown said. “And that’s very concerning to us.”

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State officials said they got guidance from the federal government this week spelling out how lower benefit amounts would flow out to states.

A person at a checkout counter in a grocery store.

Minnesota SNAP recipients will receive partial benefits for November, timeline for EBT release unclear

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