OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and 22 other attorneys general, along with three governors, are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture for suspending the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
On October 1, the federal government shutdown began. On October 10, the USDA sent a letter to state SNAP agencies saying if the shutdown continued, there wouldn’t be enough funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for families across the nation.
AG Brown says the USDA has billions of dollars in SNAP-specific contingency funds appropriated by Congress and has continued to fund other programs with emergency funds during the shutdown.
“SNAP benefits help ensure that nearly a million Washingtonians – seniors, children, and people living with disabilities – have enough to eat every day,” Brown said. “Trump is picking and choosing what gets funded and what doesn’t during the shutdown. Apparently keeping food on the table for more than 40 million Americans isn’t a priority for the President.”
Brown said the lapse in benefits would put unnecessary strain on state and local governments as well as community organizations. In Washington, around 900,000 people, including 300,000 children, will lose access to food benefits due to the withholding of SNAP funds on November 1.
Along with Brown, attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin are also part of this lawsuit. The governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania have also joined.
You can read the full complaint by clicking here.
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