Government shutdown affects SNAP benefits
State health officials say food aid could be cut off for millions of people if the government doesn’t reopen in the coming days.
Fox – 4 News
As the U.S. government shutdown continues, a coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s administration from suspending food aid benefits starting Nov. 1.
Attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would no longer use $6 billion in reserves to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have traded accusations over the government shutdown and the potential expiration of SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance to more than 41 million low-income Americans, in November.
USDA’s closure plan included the possibility of using reserve funds for SNAP, but the agency updated its website Saturday to announce that benefits would not be distributed as planned on Nov. 1, citing a “dry well.”
The lawsuit alleges that the suspension of benefits is avoidable and arbitrary, and is carried out in violation of the Food and Nutrition Act, which requires that “assistance under this program be provided to all eligible households.”
The plaintiffs, led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Arizona, and Minnesota, argue that the failure of the federal government to issue monthly food assistance payments as a result of the appropriations lapse would be the first in the SNAP program’s 60-year history.
States want a judge to move quickly to force the Department of Agriculture to use available emergency funds for November’s SNAP benefits and prevent millions of families from losing access to food assistance in the coming days.
“Millions of Americans are going hungry because the federal government has withheld the food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
The Department of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment.
SNAP benefits are available to Americans with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty line, and in many areas reach $1,632 per month for a one-person household and $2,215 for a two-person household.
SNAP benefits are paid monthly, but the exact dates on which payments are distributed vary depending on the state responsible for day-to-day administration of benefits.
The closure also threatens the benefits of about 7 million participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.
In the absence of federal action, some states have stepped in to intervene. California and New York said they would send money to food banks, and Virginia declared a state of emergency to fund November benefits.
