Twenty states sue the White House over food stamp suspension amid shutdown | 2025 US Federal Government Shutdown
A coalition of more than two dozen states on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to suspend food stamps during the government shutdown.
The lawsuit, co-led by New York, California and Massachusetts, asks a federal judge to force the USDA to tap emergency reserve funds to distribute food assistance to nearly 42 million families and children who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap). The USDA said no benefits will be issued on November 1.
“Snap is one of our country’s most effective tools to combat hunger, and USDA has the funds to keep it running,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. He said In a statement announcing the lawsuit. “There is no excuse for this administration to abandon families who depend on Snap, or food stamps, as a lifeline. The federal government must do its job to protect families.”
The Democratic attorneys general and three governors argue in their lawsuit that the federal government is required by law to maintain food benefits for low-income families who rely on the program. They are demanding a ruling by Friday on their proposal.
Snap is the nation’s largest food assistance program, according to the USDA, serving nearly one in eight low-income Americans at a cost of about $8 billion a month. The USDA’s emergency fund is estimated to contain approximately $6 billion.
The expiration of Snap benefits has emerged as a major pressure point in the shutdown crisis between Democrats and Republicans. Across the country, food banks and pantries, already struggling under sharp cuts to federal programs, were bracing for a surge in the number of hungry people if federal food aid was paused, as state officials scrambled to keep aid flowing to recipients.
Many Democrats and Republicans in Congress had called on the Trump administration to use reserve funding to prevent the spread of hunger and financial hardship to millions of American families, but it has declined so far.
“The windfall benefits are about to expire on Saturday,” Agriculture Secretary Brock Rollins told Fox News. “We do not have the necessary funding to cover these problems.”
The USDA’s Food and Nutrition homepage features a banner with a strikingly partisan message falsely accusing Senate Democrats of shutting down the government to provide health care to undocumented immigrants and transgender Americans. “The bottom line is, the well has run dry,” the notice said. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued on November 1.”
“Despite having the money to fund Snap, the Trump administration is creating needless fear, anxiety, and harm for millions of families and their children especially as we approach the holidays,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. “It is time for the Trump administration to act to help those who depend on our government, rather than harm them.”
After promoting the newsletter
Prosecutors cite a memo from the Department of Agriculture that said emergency funds “were not legally available to cover regular benefits” during the government shutdown, which the document blames on Democrats. The agency said it was only able to tap reserve funds under certain circumstances, such as natural disasters.
The memo appears to conflict with the administration’s faltering financing plan, Released In late September, which stated that Congress’s “clear” intent was for Snap’s operations to continue during the government shutdown, he pointed to “multi-year emergency funds” that could be tapped if the shutdowns continued. The plan has been removed from the department’s website.
“Not only does the USDA have the authority to use emergency funds, it has a legal duty to spend all available dollars to fund Snap benefits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, adding: “We are taking a stand because families will suffer from hunger and malnutrition if the Trump administration gets its way.”