25 states are suing the Trump administration over the pending suspension of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps, amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Democratic leaders in those states filed a lawsuit against the Agriculture Department on Tuesday in Massachusetts district court, saying the USDA is legally required to continue providing SNAP benefits during the shutdown as long as the funds are available.
Over 42 million people rely on SNAP food assistance, and their cards would normally get automatically reloaded on Nov. 1. However, the USDA website states that the agency will not allocate more funding while the government is shut down.
“Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective tools to fight hunger, and the USDA has the money to keep it running.”
Another program facing suspension is WIC, which refers to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. It provides free food to low-income pregnant women, moms, and children under 5.
If SNAP benefits are suspended, it would be the first time in history that the federal government stopped issuing them during a shutdown. SNAP has traditionally been federally funded, but is administered by states.
A new memo issued late last week and obtained by FWRD AXIS News, USDA said contingency funds are “only available” when SNAP funds have been approved by Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson argued on Monday that funds for SNAP are “not legally available right now” to cover the benefits.
“The reason is because it’s a finite source of funds. It was appropriated by Congress, and if they transfer funds from these other sources, it pulls it away immediately from school meals… So … it’s a trade off,” he said. “There has to be a pre-existing appropriation for the contingency fund to be used.”
