A bipartisan coalition of state officials, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, sued the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), partially funded through November.
Jackson said at a press conference that the administration is letting SNAP run out of money when it could tap emergency funds for the program colloquially known as food stamps. “This is wrong, and it’s against the law,” Jackson said. “If Congress gives a department money to fund a program, that department cannot refuse to fund that program.”
The coalition of state officials, which includes attorneys general and governors, filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Massachusetts. They are asking for a court to immediately intervene to keep funding, which is set to run out at the end of the month, flowing. The program is facing the possibility of its first-ever pause in funding because of the government shutdown.
“If Congress gives a department money to fund a program, that department cannot refuse to fund that program.”
Jeff Jackson, North Carolina Attorney General
“SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective tools to fight hunger, and the USDA has the money to keep it running. There is no excuse for this administration to abandon families who rely on SNAP, or food stamps, as a lifeline. The federal government must do its job to protect families,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a news release.
Politico first reported that dozens of Democratic attorneys general and governors were considering legal action.
The attorneys general for Nevada and Vermont are also part of the lawsuit, the only states listed that have Republican governors. In all, more than 24 states and the District of Columbia are involved.
“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. Continue to hold out for the Far-Left wing of the party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments,” a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said in a statement in response to the lawsuit.
In a memo Axios reported last week, the Department of Agriculture took the position that it would not tap into contingency funds and also argued that states that picked up the tab in the meantime could not be legally reimbursed.
Jackson, James, and the coalition of state officials are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order mandating USDA to use all of the “available contingency funds toward November SNAP benefits for all plaintiff states.”
It’s one of several steps state officials are trying to take to preserve SNAP benefits, on which nearly 42 million people across the country rely. Outside of legal action, some officials have sought to tap emergency funding in their own states—though some have protested the lack of assurance that the federal government will reimburse their states and have argued that it’s the federal government’s responsibility.
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that SNAP benefits would be delayed if the shutdown continued.
Raymond Fernández covers New York City and housing for NOTUS.
