Blue states challenge SNAP cutoff

Lawsuit: Suspending benefits is avoidable

Joey Garrison and Bart Jansen

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Democratic attorneys generals and governors from 25 states sued the Trump administration on Oct. 28 in a push to stop the White House from ending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits on Nov. 1 as the government shutdown reached Day 28.

The suit, filed in federal court in Boston, comes after the Agriculture Department in a recent memo said it can’t use contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps. About 42 million Americans would lose their SNAP benefits.

The Trump administration’s position contradicts previous USDA guidance that said the money was available “in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”

The lawsuit argues suspending SNAP benefits is avoidable, arbitrary and is being carried out in violation of the Food and Nutrition Act, which requires that “assistance under this pro-

gram shall be furnished to all eligible households.”

The plaintiffs, led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Arizona and Minnesota, say withholding monthly food assistance payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations would mark a first in the SNAP program’s 60-year history.

The states, as well as the District of Columbia, have asked a judge to move rapidly to force the USDA to use available contingency funds for November SNAP benefits and ensure that millions of families do not lose access to food assistance in the coming days.

“Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson,RLouisiana, told reporters the Trump administration had found creative ways to cover benefits under the Women Infants and Children program and to pay the military but could find no option to keep SNAP benefits.

The Pentagon shifted funding to pay troops Oct. 15 but warned the option won’t be available for the next paycheck Oct. 31. Johnson said WIC continued because administration lawyers found a 1930s statute that said tariff revenue could fund the program because so much food was transported across the border.

“They’ve done some creative, amazing things to mitigate, to lessen the pain as much as possible,” Johnson said.

But administration lawyers couldn’t find a statute to justify continuing SNAP benefits.

“They did the legal research but they could not find a 1930s statute to bootstrap that,” Johnson said. “It’s out of our hands. That’s why we’re so frustrated.”

President Donald Trump, currently on an Asian tour, has warned repeatedly that “Democrat programs” could be cut if the shutdown, already the second longest, drags on. The White House has also laid off thousands of federal workers – in addition to the 775,000 employees placed on furlough – and halted infrastructure projects in Democratic-led cities. Senate Democrats have 12 times blocked a Republican-backed continuing resolution to fund the government at existing spending levels, arguing legislation to reopen the government should also extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse Republicans’ Medicaid cuts passed over the summer.

Republicans have refused to entertain negotiations on health care policy, arguing the ACA subsidies should be debated by Congress after the shutdown is over.

Democrats have circled Nov. 1 as a key date in their push. That’s when open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, begins and millions of Americans will start shopping for their 2026 health coverage plans.

If the subsidies are not extended by November, healthcare.gov consumers could experience sticker shock when they start searching for health care plans. Premiums are expected to double for millions of Americans if the subsidies are not renewed, according to the research organization KFF.

Speaker Johnson urged Senate Democrats to join Republicans in reopening the government because the largest union of federal workers gave them a reason to change course.

The American Federation of Government Employees issued a statement Oct. 27 urging lawmakers to reopen the government.

“You have an off-ramp now,” Johnson told reporters Oct. 28. “The largest unions are saying please do this.”

He said air-traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers who stay on the job during shutdowns but don’t receive paychecks, have distributed fliers at airports to explain the safety concerns about the shutdown.

More than 8,000 flights were delayed Oct. 26 as controller absences mounted and as they faced their first missed paycheck Oct. 28.

“Some are turning to food banks, as we’ve discussed, in order to feed their families,” said the third-ranking House leader, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota.

Hundreds of air traffic controllers have taken temporary second jobs, putting more pressure on the strained aviation safety system, a union official said. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels told reporters at Reagan Washington National Airport that the number would rise as more controllers look for ways to pay bills.

“Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement. “Not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most.” A military veteran, Rep. August Pfluger, RTexas, told reporters at a Republican news conference that families of troops deployed overseas are worried about paychecks drying up during the shutdown.

“This is a very stressful time for military families,” said Pfluger, who served 20 years in the Air Force and is now chair of the Republican Study Committee.

Contributing: Reuters