Copyright New York Daily News
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined more than 20 states in suing President Trump’s administration for suspending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits as the government shutdown drags on with no end in sight. The lawsuit, filed by some 24 states, demands the U.S. Department of Agriculture be ordered to keep paying the food stamps benefits to some 40 million low-income Americans because it still has cash in a contingency fund appropriated by Congress. “Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” James said in a statement. “The federal government must do its job to protect families.” The lawsuit was filed in Boston federal court. The Trump administration did not immediately comment. The USDA has said the contingency fund cannot be used to replace normal funding cut off by the shutdown. “We don’t have the legal authority to distribute that,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. SNAP helps about 1 in 8 Americans, including about 3 million New Yorkers, buy groceries with debit cards that are normally loaded by the federal government on the first of each month. Some states have pledged to keep the benefits flowing even if the federal program halts payments, but a memo from the USDA says states would not be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost. The government shut down on Oct. 1 after Democrats refused to back a Republican stopgap spending plan. Republicans have rejected demands to negotiate over expiring Obamacare tax credits that are causing health insurance premiums to skyrocket as some 20 million Americans get annual enrollment notices. Some Senate Republicans have floated a plan to fund SNAP during the shutdown. But House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly told House Republicans on a private call Tuesday to brace for more pain as he seeks to increase pressure on Democrats to cave. “Things are getting real” this week, Johnson told fellow GOP lawmakers, according to Politico. “The pain register is about to hit level 10.” Gov. Hochul Monday announced the state will provide $30 million in additional emergency food aid to prevent hunger for millions of New Yorkers affected by the potential SNAP cut-off. The coalition of state attorneys general notes that SNAP benefits have never been cut off in past government shutdowns. This shutdown is already close to becoming the longest on record. Thousands of federal workers have been furloughed and critical workers like airport security and air traffic controllers are being forced to work without pay.
