ICYMI: Trump Administration Tells Wisconsin To ‘Undo’ Full Foodshare Payments. Evers Says ‘No’
MADISON, Wis. — After the Trump administration tried to block FoodShare payments that Gov. Tony Evers authorized to help feed Wisconsin families, Gov. Evers stood firm and gave a simple answer: no. He released these funds in response to the Republican-led shutdown, which has halted FoodShare benefits and left families struggling to put food on the table.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump administration tells Wisconsin to ‘undo’ full FoodShare payments. Evers says ‘No’
By: Molly Beck | 11/9/25
Key details below:
- The Trump administration late Saturday told Wisconsin state officials to “undo” their fulfillment of food assistance benefits amid a court battle over funding the nation’s anti-hunger programs during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
- The directive to all state officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came after the Evers administration discovered the U.S. Treasury had rejected reimbursing Wisconsin grocers for food purchased by participants in Wisconsin’s food assistance program, known as FoodShare, according to the Evers administration.
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers had a one-word response to the directive: “No.”
- In a statement, he said Wisconsin “legally loaded benefits to cards.”
- “Our administration is actively in court fighting against the Trump Administration’s efforts to yank food assistance away from Wisconsin’s kids, families, and seniors, and we are eager for the court to resolve this issue by directing the Trump Administration to comply with court orders and provide the certainty to the many Wisconsin families and businesses who rely on FoodShare,” he said in the statement.
- Nearly 700,000 FoodShare recipients received their full November allotment of benefits after Evers’ health department officials pushed through a request to fill the recipients’ card balances after a federal judge on Thursday demanded the Trump administration fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through the government shutdown.
- But while the recipients’ cards had balances available to spend through lines of credit, the Treasury had rejected sending money to cover those purchases to grocers and other businesses that accept such cards, according to an Evers administration official.
- After the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted a stay of the ruling compelling the Trump administration to pay the benefits, Agriculture officials sent memos to state officials asking them to “immediately undo” any actions to direct funding to their residents using food assistance cards.
- The officials said in the memo that any move to fully fund benefits, like Wisconsin had done, was “unauthorized.”
- The Agriculture officials also noted that failure to comply would result in funding reductions to administer their food assistance programs.
- Evers said in a court filing Saturday that without the reimbursement approval from U.S. Treasury, known as a line of credit, the state will no longer be able to send funds to retailers for the purchases made by FoodShare recipients by Monday.
- Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents received full food benefits early Friday after state officials moved to release the funding after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the program.
- More than $104 million in benefits were paid to 337,000 households at midnight, a spokeswoman for Evers said Friday, Nov. 7. The federal funding was distributed after the Evers administration made a request late Thursday, before the Trump administration sought to block the order.
- The Evers administration expects the U.S. Department of Agriculture to at least make partial funding available to divert to retailers, according to an Evers spokeswoman.
- “Based on what the state knows today, Wisconsin does not expect any immediate impacts for FoodShare members while the state continues to work to secure funds owed from the federal government,” she said.
- Federal subsidies for meals have become a flashpoint in the fight between Democrats and Republicans who have been unable to agree on a new bill to fund the government, leading to a federal government shutdown now in its 40th day.
- Funding for SNAP benefits, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, expired Nov. 1 amid the shutdown.
- Since then, two federal judges issued orders to compel the Trump administration to tap into contingency funds to keep SNAP payments moving, but the Trump administration said it would fund only a portion of the benefits.
- Doing so would cause long delays, because the systems set up to distribute benefits would need to be overhauled to release a smaller amount.
- If the Trump administration funded the program at the reduced level, grocers would be reimbursed, according to the Evers administration.
- The Trump administration said it does not have enough funds to pay full benefits.
- “This is a crisis, to be sure, but it is a crisis occasioned by congressional failure, and that can only be solved by congressional action,” Trump administration wrote in a court filing seeking the emergency stay.
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