PA Gov. Shapiro Joins Lawsuit Suing Trump Administration Over SNAP Benefits

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday joined a coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia taking legal action that demands the federal Department of Agriculture use contingency funds to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Nearly two million Pennsylvanians participate in the food assistance program to feed their families. According to the Shapiro administration, that number includes approximately 714,000 children and 697 seniors every month.

Prior to the shutdown on September 30, the agriculture department acknowledged the existence of nearly $6 billion in multi-year contingency funds that can be used for state administrative expenses to ensure the state can continue operations during the shutdown.

But the department has posted on its website that it will not tap those contingency funds to provide SNAP benefits to the program's 42 million recipients in November.

“For the first time since the program began in 1964, SNAP payments have been halted across the country because the Trump administration has decided to use critical food assistance as a political bargaining chip,” Shapiro said in a statement.

“That is unacceptable, especially when the USDA has billions of dollars in Congressionally-appropriated contingency funding on hand to fund SNAP and ensure millions of people don’t go hungry."

The federal government fully funds the SNAP program. Pennsylvanians receive more than $366 million in such benefits from the federal government each month. More than $4.3 billion in SNAP benefits were issued over the course of the state's fiscal year 2024.