NY Attorney General Applauds Judge's Ruling That Full SNAP Benefits Must Be Sent By Friday

NEW YORK — Attorney General James today applauded the decision of a federal judge who ruled that the Trump administration must send full November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to states by Friday.

"A judge in Rhode Island just stopped the federal government from starving millions of Americans. I am relieved that people will get the food they need, but it is outrageous that it took a lawsuit to make the federal government feed its own people," James said.

Earlier on Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 24 other states and the District of Columbia asked a federal judge to require the Trump administration to release full Supplemental Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits for November.

The request was made after the administration announced plans to only partially distribute November SNAP benefits, she said.

The federal Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AG James and the coalition argued that the administration’s plan violates federal law, which requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use all available funding to deliver SNAP benefits, and leaves millions of families at risk of running out of food before the end of the month.

"This administration is still choosing to withhold the lifesaving support that more than 40 million Americans rely on to put food on the table," James said. "It is unconscionable that we even had to go to court to get the federal government to fund SNAP. Anything less than full benefits is morally reprehensible and a dereliction of the government’s duty to protect and care for the American people. I will do everything in my power to fight the administration's shameful inaction and keep New Yorkers fed."

SNAP is the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, providing critical assistance to low-income households to help them buy groceries and put food on the table, she said. Nationwide, more than 42 million Americans depend on SNAP to feed themselves and their families. Children and seniors make up nearly 60 percent of all SNAP recipients, and well over a million veterans receive SNAP benefits each year.

In New York alone, SNAP serves nearly 3 million people, including nearly 1 million children and more than 600,000 older adults. Approximately seven percent of New York SNAP recipients are disabled.

This past year, New Yorkers received approximately $650 million in SNAP benefits each month.

James and the coalition sued the USDA last week over plans to unlawfully suspend SNAP during the ongoing government shutdown, she said.

On October 31, James won a court order requiring the federal government to use USDA’s existing contingency funding to prevent any disruption in food assistance.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts instructed the administration to develop a plan to deliver November SNAP benefits. Earlier this week, USDA responded with a plan to only partially fund monthly benefits, she said.

In their brief filed Thursday, AG James and the coalition argued that this violated the Food and Nutrition Act, which requires that "assistance under this program shall be furnished to all eligible households."

While USDA claims that its contingency fund can only cover a portion of November’s nationwide SNAP payments, the agency has declined to use another legally available source of money — its Section 32 funds, appropriated by Congress to support food assistance — which would easily allow it to pay full benefits to every recipient, the AG said.

The coalition is asking the court to order USDA to fully fund November SNAP benefits and ensure that the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP do not go hungry this Thanksgiving.

Joining Attorney General James in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.