MA Attorney General Campbell Sues Trump Administration For SNAP Funding Freeze

BOSTON, MA —Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell co-led a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration Tuesday, claiming the United States Department of Agriculture is unlawfully suspending the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the ongoing government shutdown.

Earlier this week, the USDA announced that the more than 1 million Massachusetts residents who receive SNAP benefits, or food stamps, won't get their November benefits amid the shutdown, which will enter its fifth week on Wednesday. In a notice posted on its website, the agency said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits flowing into November.

The program helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries.

“Despite having the money to fund SNAP, the Trump Administration is creating needless fear, angst and harm for millions of families and their children especially as we approach the holidays," Campbell said in a media release. "It is past time for the Trump Administration to act to help, rather than harm, those who rely on our government.”

The shutdown began on Oct. 1 when the new federal fiscal year began without an appropriation by Congress to fund the federal government.

See also: MA SNAP Benefits Won't Go Out In November, Officials Confirm

On Oct. 10, the USDA sent a letter to state SNAP agencies saying that if the shutdown continued, there would be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for the approximately 42 million people across the country who rely on them.

Gov. Maura Healey expressed her gratitude to Campbell for co-leading the legal action.

"Donald Trump wants you to believe he has no choice but to cut off food assistance at the end of the month," Healey posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"The truth? There’s a fund with billions set aside to keep SNAP going," Healey's post said. "Grateful to AG Campbell for fighting for the food support families need and deserve."

The lawsuit claims that despite the USDA's assertion of insufficient funds, Congress has appropriated billions of dollars in SNAP-specific contingency funds to the agency in case of a situation like the shutdown.

See also: Gov. Healey Blasts Looming SNAP Benefit Cutoff, Plans For Contingencies

"Furthermore, the USDA has funded other programs during this shutdown, but has refused to fund SNAP, leaving millions of Americans without the assistance they need to buy food," the lawsuit says. "It is clear the federal government is making a deliberate, unlawful and inhumane choice not to fund the crucial SNAP program."

The lawsuit also alleges the lapse in benefits will have "dire consequences" for the economy and put additional strain on state and local governments and community organizations working to fill the nutrition gap.

"Suspending SNAP benefits will also harm the hundreds of thousands of grocers and merchants that accept SNAP payment for food purchases across the country," the lawsuit states. "The USDA has estimated that in a slowing economy, every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity."

Joining Campbell in filing the lawsuit, which she co-led with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, and Minnesota, are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania have also joined.

Despite the lawsuit, USDA officials argued in a memo to states sent Friday that “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits," according to a Washington Post report.

“It has never been used to complement benefits,” a senior administration official told the Post. “We’ve never had a lapse in appropriations like this. It’s something that has not been tested, but precedent is for times of disaster.”

During previous shutdowns, the USDA allowed states to use the contingency fund to pay for SNAP, including during the longest-ever closure, which ran from December 2018 into January 2019 in the first Trump administration, according to the Post.