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Government shutdown updates: Judge lays out path for SNAP benefits

The administration could use $5 billion in emergency funds and tariff revenue.

ByDavid Brennan, Alexandra Hutzler, and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: November 2, 2025, 3:21 PM EST

Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at a stalemate on finding a government funding solution to end what is now the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The Senate on Thursday adjourned until Monday afternoon, which will mark the 34th day of the government shutdown. 

Meanwhile, a federal judge has laid out a path for the administration to fund SNAP benefits, which ran out on Saturday, saying the administration could tap more than $5 billion in emergency funds, as well as a much larger pot of tariff revenue collected by the Agriculture Department to fund the program.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 23, 2025, 4:38 PM EDT

Senators bemoan lack of momentum on Capitol Hill to end shutdown

As lawmakers head home for the weekend – ensuring the shutdown will drag into the next week – another week has passed on Capitol Hill with little, if any, progress to reopen the government.

Asked whether there was anything that occurred this week that brings Congress any closer to reopening government, the resounding consensus was no.

"No, none," Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told ABC News. "I think we're at an impasse. I think we're going to go into November. It's horrible."

"I can't tell you how wrong it is, I think, to make people suffer because of it, and people are suffering," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. "I mean, I know that in this building, it's like, oh, this is just a political game. This is not a game."

The Statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol is seen between autumn tree leaves on day 23 of the government shutdown, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP

Despite the lack of momentum to end the shutdown, Lummis does not believe that President Donald Trump needs to get more involved to break the stalemate.

"I think that this is something that the Congress needs to handle among itself. We know what they're asking for," Lummis said. "It's $1.5 trillion and they want to put a band aid on Obamacare when Obamacare needs to be addressed for its underlying inability to deliver affordable health care. So there's a lot of work to do."

-ABC News' John Parkinson

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