Attorney General Neronha, coalition sue Trump Administration for placing illegal conditions on billions in critical USDA funding

Attorney General Neronha, coalition sue Trump Administration for placing illegal conditions on billions in critical USDA funding

Published on Monday, March 23, 2026

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration over its unconstitutional and unlawful attempt to impose conditions on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, grants, cooperative agreements, and mutual interest agreements.

In their lawsuit, the coalition asserts that USDA has threatened harsh penalties if states do not comply with the agency's vague and expansive funding conditions relating to immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion, and gender identity, which are unrelated to the purpose of USDA funding. The lawsuit asks the court to block USDA from imposing these illegal funding conditions, including on critical USDA programs such as the school lunch program; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); and the Volunteer Fire Capacity Program.

"This President would rather Americans go hungry than disagree with him politically," said Attorney General Neronha. "As this Administration has attempted to do in the recent past, and failed, they are once again trying to make federal funding for essential services contingent on political capitulation. This was plainly illegal when they tried to do it with funding for transportation, emergency preparedness, and other essential areas, and it is plainly illegal here. Millions upon millions of Americans struggle with food insecurity and rely on this funding to feed themselves and their families. They cannot and will not impose illegal conditions on this funding; we will make sure of it."

Effective December 31, 2025, USDA adopted new funding conditions. The conditions require states to promise to comply with the Trump Administration's policies related to gender identity, diversity, immigration and fair athletic opportunities for girls and women. However, as the attorneys general explain in their lawsuit, USDA does not fully identify or limit which policies the states must comply with, leaving states at the mercy of the administration for enforcement of the new conditions.

In their lawsuit, the coalition alleges that the Trump Administration has violated the Spending Clause by imposing coercive conditions without clear notice of its funding conditions. The lawsuit also alleges the Trump Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because conditions are the arbitrary and capricious, unconstitutional, contrary to law, and beyond USDA's statutory authority.

USDA programs feed about 30 million children across the nation through the school lunch program, strengthen the American food ecosystem from farm to table, support national security through a robust and safe domestic agriculture community, fund university research to advance domestic food production, and save lives and infrastructure by funding firefighting programs.

In FY 2024 alone, the State of Rhode Island and its agencies received over $418 million in USDA funding, the vast majority of which went towards feeding Rhode Island's most vulnerable populations. The State depends on USDA funding to feed its residents and run several critical programs, and even a temporary loss of USDA funding could quickly lead to food insecurity, financial stress, unemployment, and poor student outcomes, among other negative impacts.

Joining Attorney General Neronha in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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