A compromise that could end the government shutdown hasn't stopped the confusion around feeding families in need.

About 440,000 Minnesotans rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to get groceries each month. Many of them are children or seniors. Legal battles are making it difficult to ensure that meals end up on Minnesota dinner tables.

Visitors to a food shelf in south Minneapolis said they were confused over SNAP benefits. Some people had gotten them, some have not, and everyone is unsure when all the uncertainty will end.

"I am as confused as anyone else is," said Sharon Abel, the Groveland Food Shelf director. 

Some SNAP recipients told WCCO they had not yet gotten their money in their accounts. One woman said she had $230 in her account.

"I was robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Heaven Gurnell. She now says she feels "relieved."

While there is confusion on the ground, there is also confusion at the top level.

Attorney General Keith Ellison joined attorneys general from California, New York and New Jersey as well as national food relief personnel at a news conference.

"If any of that back-and-forth left with whiplash, you are not alone," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The attorneys general say the blitz of conflicting court rulings and motions from the Trump administration is unprecedented.

"It's important to know that as soon as court ruling forced the USDA to resume paying full SNAP benefits on Friday, the very next day the USDA changed course and ordered states to halt paying those benefits and claw back those funds which was particularly shocking to me," said Ellison.

Food shelf personnel say they hope when the shutdown ends SNAP benefits will return to normal, but it's not clear when that will be.