Gov. Evers Announces Evers Administration Immediately Moves to Ensure Nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites Receive November FoodShare Payments in Full after Court Directs Trump Administration to Stop Withholding Funding

MADISON — Hours after a federal court ordered the Trump Administration to stop withholding SNAP (known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) payments to states and directed the administration to use billions of dollars in readily available federal funding to provide food assistance payments to millions of Americans, Gov. Evers tonight announced the Evers Administration has immediately moved to pay full November payments for all Wisconsin FoodShare members.

The Trump Administration recently directed states to suspend payments for food assistance, jeopardizing basic food access for nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including nearly 270,000 kids, due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. Days after Wisconsin FoodShare ran out of funding on November 1, which left hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites without access to basic food and groceries, the Evers Administration tonight immediately moved to implement the court decision and make full November FoodShare payments to Wisconsinites across the state. Unless the Trump Administration defies the court order and federal law or decides to request an emergency stay of the court’s decision, or a vendor processing issue occurs, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) anticipates benefits will be available to FoodShare members overnight.

“After Wisconsinites and folks across the country were left scrambling and trying to figure out how to put food on their tables without critical food assistance because of the Trump Administration, I’m hopeful that the nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including kids, will be able to receive their November FoodShare payments in full and will not have to wake up tomorrow worried about when or whether they are going to eat next. It was damn important that we can get this done and moved as quickly as we could, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Gov. Evers. “My administration worked quickly to ensure these benefits could be released as soon as possible so that our kids, families, and seniors have access to basic food and groceries without one more day of delay. But let’s be clear—it never should’ve come to this. Wisconsinites should’ve never been without food assistance, period, and they wouldn’t have been if President Trump and the Trump Administration had listened to me and so many who urged them to use all legal funds and levers to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to food and groceries. But the Trump Administration refused to do so, and, because they did, kids, families, and seniors went hungry. That’s contemptible.

“I’m incredibly proud of our work to get folks the support they need as quickly as we could, but the bottom line is that the Trump Administration and Republicans in Washington must work across the aisle to end the federal government shutdown as soon as possible to prevent this situation from happening again next month,” Gov. Evers continued. “Wisconsinites simply cannot afford another month of Republican dysfunction in Washington. It’s time for Republicans to get back to work and do the right thing by working across the aisle to end the federal government shutdown to ensure Wisconsinites continue to have access to basic needs, including affordable healthcare and food assistance, moving forward. Here in Wisconsin, we’re going to continue to do everything we can to support folks, families, and communities across our state and country. Republicans in Congress should do the same.”

The governor’s announcement comes on Day 37 of the ongoing federal government shutdown—now the longest federal government shutdown in American history—and as the Trump Administration has delayed critical food assistance for the nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including nearly 270,000 kids, who depend on Wisconsin FoodShare for basic food and groceries. Gov. Evers has spent weeks urging the Trump Administration to use readily available federal funding and levers to prevent millions of Americans from losing food assistance due to the federal government shutdown. The governor last week announced Wisconsin would join a lawsuit to force the Trump Administration to follow federal law—and its own past practice—by using billions of dollars in readily available federal funding to prevent millions of Americans who depend on food assistance from having to go hungry.

The Trump Administration was initially ordered last Friday to release at least partial funding for the FoodShare program by the end of the day yesterday, Wed., Nov. 5, 2025. The Trump Administration, however, failed to comply with the court’s previous order. Consequently, a federal court late today ordered the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits for the month of November, and to do so by tomorrow. Now that the Trump Administration has been directed to make full payments for the month of November, rather than the partial payments they were initially expected to make that would have further delayed people from receiving payments, the Evers Administration worked immediately to implement the court’s directive to get critical food assistance to hungry Wisconsin kids, families, and seniors. Because of the Evers Administration’s quick work, Wisconsin’s FoodShare members will not experience any additional delay in receiving their benefits.

In the absence of state and federal action to prevent nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites from losing access to basic food and groceries, Gov. Evers, late on Friday, announced that he signed Executive Order #278 to respond to the ongoing federal government shutdown. Gov. Evers’ order formally declared a state of emergency and a period of abnormal economic disruption in the state of Wisconsin due to the ongoing federal government shutdown that is jeopardizing access to critical resources and programs that are necessary for the health, safety, well-being, and economic security of Wisconsinites and the lapse in FoodShare benefits due to the Trump Administration’s refusal to use billions of dollars in readily available federal funding to prevent millions of Americans from having to go hungry. The governor’s executive order directs state agencies to take any and all necessary measures to ensure Wisconsin can address the state of emergency, including but not limited to prohibiting price gouging due to loss of FoodShare funding and continuing economic disruptions, ensuring relevant resources are readily available for Wisconsinites and the state, and state agencies can utilize every available tool and resource to support Wisconsinites through impacts of the federal government shutdown. The governor’s executive order can be found here.

Gov. Evers continues to encourage Wisconsinites across the state to contact their congressional representatives and urge support for ending the federal government shutdown, extending key programs that help lower healthcare costs, and preventing hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from going hungry. Wisconsinites can go to www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member and enter their address to find the contact information for their congressional representative and senators.

Any Wisconsinite who needs additional food or infant formula for their house or family can reach out to 211 for information and referrals to local services. Anyone can use 211 to get help by:

• Dialing 211 or 877-947-2211.
• Visiting their website at 211wisconsin.communityos.org. Through the website, people can search for services or chat with someone online who can help.
• Texting their ZIP code to 898211.

DHS also encourages Medicaid and FoodShare members to make sure their phone number, email, and mailing address on file are up to date by going to the ACCESS.wi.gov website or the smartphone app. The department will announce some of the changes broadly, as appropriate, using channels like the Medicaid news webpage, FoodShare news webpage, social media, news releases, and email.

Importantly, please note that Wisconsin WIC is currently available, and based on the information available at this time, November benefits will also be available. During the government shutdown, WIC members can use their WIC benefits, attend WIC appointments, and do not need to take any action. If there are changes to the availability of WIC funding and benefits, DHS will let WIC members, partners, and providers know as soon as possible.

Medicaid and BadgerCare Plus members still have coverage to get the care and services they need. For updates, visit the Medicaid News page.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.