Activists and protesters gathered at 58th and Market streets in West Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, demanding the restoration and expansion of SNAP benefits, which help nearly one-third of the city’s residents pay for groceries.
On Friday, two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration must use contingency funds to continue payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, amid the U.S. government shutdown.
It’s unclear how quickly the funding, which was set to dry up Saturday for the first time in the program’s more than 60-year history, will be available to recipients. The process to load debit cards used for the funding generally takes one to two weeks, meaning even after the judges’ rulings, this month’s funds are delayed.
“We welcome this news, even though the Trump administration will drag their feet in actually getting benefits restored, and millions of people are still going to have to wait an undetermined amount of time before they get their benefits restored,” Brian Mazelis, a member of The Party for Socialism and Liberation, which organized the rally, told the crowd.
Brian Mazelis, right, was one of the organizers of a rally for SNAP benefits held by The Party for Socialism and Liberation in West Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday that he “instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.” He blamed the Democrats for the SNAP delay and the government shutdown.
Attendees chanted, “Fund SNAP, not ICE,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and “Billionaires make more and more, we’re fired up, can’t take it no more.”
