Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 22 of her counterparts filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging the agency is using the ongoing federal government shutdown to unlawfully suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that delivers food aid to 40 million Americans.
The lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, aims to maintain the flow of SNAP benefits that are at risk on Nov. 1. Rollins said in a TV interview Tuesday that Senate Democrats have repeatedly rejected stopgap spending measures that could enable the government to reopen and prevent any disruption in the delivery of SNAP benefits.
“We’re asking the court to immediately turn these benefits back on to prevent any harm that will happen not only to our residents, but to our economy because SNAP recipients won’t be the only ones who suffer,” Campbell said during a rally organized by the Make Hunger History Coalition.
“Our families and our state won’t be able to close the gap, a gap of nearly $240 million every single month,” Campbell continued. “So it is past time that this administration do what’s right, act to help and not to harm, our residents that rely on government.”
The commonwealth is listed as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. The coalition also plans to file a temporary restraining order on Tuesday to “immediately turn benefits back on,” Campbell’s office said.
Rollins was asked about the lawsuit in an interview on CNN.
“I find it extremely rich that the elected Democrats of California, and New York, and Washington, and Oregon — and by the way, all governors that I work with in USDA on a lot of these different programs, you know the SNAP waivers and getting healthier food into SNAP, et cetera — but I find it very rich that they are suing the Trump administration because their friends on the Hill won’t vote yes to keep the government open,” she said.
The secretary added, “I believe that they have been very clear up on the Hill, the Democrats have, that they want to use this and they want to use those who are the poorest among us as leverage points to expand their policy agenda. And there’s no doubt about that.”
Advocates crowded the State House steps and sidewalk along Beacon Street Tuesday afternoon as finger-pointing continued surrounding the fate of SNAP benefits and the fear that young children, families and persons with disabilities could soon go hungry. They held signs with messages including, “Hunger is a choice we don’t have to make,” “Every Child Deserves Dinner,” “You Can’t Eat Bargaining Chips Feed People Not Bureaucracy,” SNAP to it! Feed the hungry!” and “Hey DC. Snap Out of It!!!”
Some advocates booed and yelled “shame” as speakers decried President Donald Trump’s decision to not use contingency funds to cover SNAP benefits.
Campbell’s office contends the USDA “appears to have as much as $6 billion in SNAP contingency reserve funds” that it could dip into for emergencies like the shutdown. But Rollins said SNAP benefits in November alone will cost $9.2 billion.
“We don’t have the legal authority as of today to distribute anything less than that through the formulas, et cetera,” Rollins said. “We’re obviously looking at all of this as we move forward, but as of today, that $9.2 billion, we don’t even have close to that in contingency funding. We’ve got to get this government open.”
The shutdown impasse comes as Senate Democrats have repeatedly rejected GOP-backed stopgap spending measures as they look to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that are slated to expire at the end of the year under a pandemic-era law. The expiration of subsidies could drive up health insurance premiums.
“But SNAP, the food stamp program, 42 million Americans, 22 million families are being held hostage by Katherine Clark,” Rollins said. “One of the leaders of the Democrat Party, her own words that they can use these poor families and these benefits for the leverage.”
In a tweet Monday, the House minority whip from Massachusetts said, “The Trump administration has money to fund SNAP, they just don’t want to.”
On the Senate floor Monday, Majority Leader John Thune lamented that Democrats “once passionately opposed shutdowns, or so they said, in large part because of the impact they would have on American citizens and American workers.”
“More than 40 million Americans could lose access to food stamps if the shutdown continues — 40 million,” Thune said. “And yet none of it seems to matter to Senate Democrats, the party that once decried the impact of shutdowns on Americans in need and now apparently content to see 40 million Americans go without food.”
Gov. Maura Healey has dismissed the possibility of the state filling in the federal funding gap, though her administration and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay launched a response fund on Friday.
The Make Hunger History Coalition has said Massachusetts should dip into its $8 billion rainy day fund if the Trump administration does not act to fund SNAP benefits starting Saturday. Republican candidate for governor Mike Kennealy said he would draw from the rainy day fund to protect SNAP benefits.
“Despite Healey’s recent claims, the Stabilization Fund has ample resources to provide immediate relief to Bay Staters, as fully funding SNAP for one month would use about 2.5% of the current fund balance,” Kennealy said Tuesday.
Kennealy said he’d file legislation “to draw from the rainy-day fund to cover SNAP benefits for any child, veteran, or senior who has been a lawful Massachusetts resident for at least six months.”
Victoria Negus, senior economic justice advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said Healey and the Legislature still have time to mitigate the impact to SNAP.
While Negus called the lawsuit “tremendous news,” she cautioned that it is “not going to save the day in the next three to ‘X’ days.” Negus said she’s focused on the time window from Nov. 1 to Nov. 14, when benefits would typically be issued.
“It’s possible that we could have resolution on a federal level at some point in that time window, but until then, we need to have a plan in the commonwealth,” Negus told reporters. “And as of today, we don’t have one, so we’re really urging both legislators and the governor to make a plan.”
Other states are deploying their own funds to tackle hunger issues.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced $30 million in emergency food assistance funds to support more than 16 million meals, her office said. That’s in addition to the $11 million in local emergency food relief that Hochul announced last week.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week said the state is “fast-tracking” up to $80 million and deploying the California National Guard and California Volunteers to support food banks.
WPRI reported that Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee held a press conference Tuesday to announce he’s declaring a state of emergency “due to the dangers created by the absence of federal SNAP funding.” McKee reportedly is making up to $6 million from Rhode Island’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program available to feed about 20,000 families with children and dependents.
Campbell said the lawsuit builds upon a letter that AGs sent Rollins on Friday, which pressed the USDA to clarify why it instructed states to halt administrative work on issuing November SNAP benefits and explain contingency plans to deliver aid during the shutdown. The AGs’ letter has gone unanswered, Campbell said.
The USDA warned states on Oct. 10 that if the shutdown continued, the agency would have “insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.” Campbell said that notice provided “no legal rationale or no reason as to why they wouldn’t tap into reserves.”
“Suspending SNAP benefits in this manner is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act,” Campbell’s office said. “Congress has clearly indicated that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, and USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise.”
