Democratic leaders from 25 states are suing the Department of Agriculture over the pending suspension of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. Benefits are expected to dry up across the country this weekend due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Massachusetts District Court, argues that the USDA is legally required to continue providing SNAP benefits during the shutdown as long as it has funding. It asks the court to force the USDA to use reserve funds allocated by Congress to keep the program running.
As many as 42 million people rely on SNAP food assistance, and recipients would normally see their EBT cards reloaded on November 1. But the USDA website says the agency won’t allocate additional funds as long as the shutdown persists — an unprecedented situation that could cause widespread famine across the country.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the attorneys general of 22 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
“Millions of Americans are on the verge of going hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold the food assistance it is legally required 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 USDA has the money to make it work. »
James and his fellow plaintiffs argue that by failing to award contingency funds, the USDA is violating the Food and Nutrition Act, which protects access to SNAP benefits. They also allege that the USDA’s actions are arbitrary and capricious and therefore violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The leaders are seeking a temporary restraining order that would require USDA to continue SNAP benefits through November in their states.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, a USDA spokesperson responded with a statement: “We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. Continue to defend the far-left wing of the party or reopen the government so that mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive WIC and SNAP benefits in a timely manner.”
(WIC refers to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which provides free food to low-income pregnant women, moms, and children under 5. The program is also at risk of a funding shortfall due to the shutdown.)
If SNAP benefits are suspended, it would be the first time in the program’s 60-year history that the federal government has stopped paying them during a shutdown.
At a news conference about the lawsuit, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the plaintiffs, said he believed the USDA had as much as $6 billion in contingency funds, enough to cover SNAP in November.
“They’re doing this on purpose. It’s deliberate. It’s intentional. They have the funds. They’re just not using them,” he said.
Bonta added that the USDA recognized during the 2019 government shutdown that contingency funds could be used to continue SNAP benefits.
In a September planning document preceding the current shutdown, the USDA also said it could use multi-year contingency funds to fund SNAP benefits and maintain state operations. But that document was removed from the USDA website, and the department told SNAP directors earlier this month that it did not have enough funds to pay full benefits in November if the shutdown persisted.
In a follow-up memo, the USDA said contingency funds were “not legally available to cover regular benefits.” He said the funds were reserved for situations such as natural disasters and could not be used to supplement regular monthly benefits because Congress had not passed a federal budget. Shifting money from other sources would mean less funding for school meals and infant formula, the department added.
Because October funding for SNAP was allocated before the shutdown, benefits have not yet been cut off. Most states warned SNAP recipients that they would lose access to benefits in early November. Some states already direct recipients to food banks or suggest they use remaining benefits to purchase shelf-stable items.
At Tuesday’s press conference, California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Republican governors for not joining the lawsuit.
“Ironically, the impacts in their states are disproportionate,” he said.
The USDA website, however, blames Democrats: “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times not to fund the food stamp program,” it says, referring to the impasse over the 2026 federal budget. “Ultimately, the well has run dry. At this time, no benefits will be issued on November 1.”
We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now, someone who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other shuttered services in your daily life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or contact us here.
