Attorney General Bonta Sues Trump Administration for Unlawfully Suspending November SNAP Benefits

45th lawsuit by Attorney General Bonta against Trump Administration urges court to immediately restore SNAP funding relied upon by 42 million Americans, including 5.5 million Californians

SACRAMENTO -California Attorney General Rob Bonta is co-leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit today against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Secretary Brooke Rollins for indefinitely suspending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the federal government shutdown. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the lawsuit points out that USDA has funds available to it that are sufficient to cover all or a large portion of November SNAP benefits, and that suspending benefits - when USDA is sitting on billions of dollars in contingency funds - is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The coalition is also filing a request for a temporary restraining order and asking the court to block the USDA's suspension order because of the irreparable harm their residents are facing.

"Let's be clear about what's happening: For the first time ever, SNAP benefits will not be available to the millions of low-income individuals who depend on them to put food on the table," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "November SNAP benefits can and must be provided, even with the government shutdown. USDA not only has authority to use contingency funds, it has a legal duty to spend all available dollars to fund SNAP benefits. The Trump Administration, however, has chosen instead to play politics with this essential safety net that so many people depend on - including 5.5 million individuals in California alone. With the holidays around the corner, we are seeing costs for groceries continue to increase and food banks facing unprecedented demand. We are taking a stand because families will experience hunger and malnutrition if the Trump Administration gets its way."

"While Donald Trump parades around the world trying to repair the economic damage he's done with his incompetence, he's denying food to millions of Americans who will go hungry next month," said Governor Gavin Newsom. "It's cruel and speaks to his basic lack of humanity. He doesn't care about the people of this country, only himself."

On September 30, USDA issued a Lapse of Funding Plan, in which it acknowledged that Congress intended for SNAP operations to continue during a government shutdown and that it has "multi-year contingency funds" on hand for just that eventuality. As of late September, that contingency fund stood at approximately $6 billion. On October 10, after the shutdown began, USDA sent a letter to state agencies directing them to put an indefinite hold on November benefits while it began "the process of fact finding and information gathering to be prepared in case a contingency plan must be implemented." USDA provided no further guidance for two weeks, prompting Attorney General Bonta and a coalition of attorneys general to demand an update on USDA's contingency plan. The same day, October 24, USDA issued a decision formally suspending SNAP benefits indefinitely. And, in a separate memo, it wrote that USDA cannot legally use the $6 billion contingency fund to provide SNAP benefits - the opposite of what it said previously. It also said it could not use that money because it might be needed for disaster relief in the event of a future hurricane or tornado, even though the agency has previously said it could use contingency funds to cover SNAP benefits during a funding lapse.

SNAP provides monthly food benefits to low-income families in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In California, SNAP is known as the CalFresh Program and is administered by the California Department of Social Services. SNAP provides an essential hunger safety net to an average of 5.5 million Californians per month. 63.2% of SNAP participants in California are children or elderly. Further, many veterans - nearly 85,000 in California in recent years - live in households that depend on SNAP for their nutrition needs.

In today's lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that:

• Under federal law, USDA has an obligation to furnish SNAP benefits. The agency cannot simply suspend all benefits indefinitely, while refusing to spend billions in contingency funds that can - and must - be used to fund SNAP benefits for eligible households. This refusal is contrary to law and violates the APA.
• USDA has historically funded SNAP benefits during prior lapses in appropriations. In addition, USDA has previously - in prior years and as recently as last month - taken the position that contingency funds are available to fund benefits during shortfalls. In doing an about face and suspending November SNAP benefits without adequately considering the impacts on states, among other things, the agency violated the APA's requirement to engage in reasoned decision-making.

The lawsuit is co-led by Attorney General Bonta, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. They are joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

A copy of the lawsuit will be available here. The temporary restraining order will be available here.