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(CN) — A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for withholding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the ongoing federal government shutdown.
In a 51-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the states lambast the U.S. Department of Agriculture for announcing it would suspend the anti-hunger program in November — marking the first time since SNAP’s inception that the benefits will be delayed.
“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, one of the state leaders in the coalition, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective tools to fight hunger, and the USDA has the money to keep it running. There is no excuse for this administration to abandon families who rely on SNAP, or food stamps, as a lifeline,” she said.
New York alone will lose SNAP services for the nearly 3 million people statewide who use it. According to James’ office, New Yorkers receive approximately $650 million in SNAP benefits each month.
Nationwide, approximately 42 million Americans use SNAP to address food insecurity. Children and seniors make up nearly 60% of all recipients; more than one million recipients are veterans.
On the heels of the ongoing government shutdown, the USDA wrote in a letter to state agencies on Oct. 10 claiming it was “forced to direct states to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to state EBT vendors until further notice.”
The consequences, the states warn, could be catastrophic.
“With the suspension of SNAP benefits, the nutritional needs of millions of school-aged children in plaintiff states will not be met,” the states claim. “Hungry children have a harder time paying attention, behaving, and learning in school. States will have to devote additional state resources, including healthcare expenditures and additional educational resources, to address these challenges.”
The “sudden and complete loss of SNAP benefits” is also likely to strain local health care systems, the states add, noting that food insecurity has a significant impact on public health.
The states claim this “arbitrary and capricious” decision by the USDA violates the Food and Nutrition Act, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Food and Nutrition Act specifies that “assistance under this program shall be furnished to all eligible households.” Yet, the states say the federal government is refusing to use a $6 billion congressionally approved SNAP contingency fund to fund the benefits through the shutdown, breaching the federal law.
“The attorneys general of many plaintiff states sent USDA a letter on Oct. 24, 2025 asking for further details about what contingency funds remain available and why USDA is not funding SNAP with these reserves and, to the extent that they are available, Section 32 funds. USDA has not responded,” the states claim in their lawsuit.
Pausing SNAP funding is also inconsistent with the goals of Congress and what the USDA has done during past shutdowns, the states say.
When reached for comment, Courthouse News received an automated response that the USDA’s public relations team has been furloughed due to the lapse in federal funding.
But the department has the following message displayed on its Food and Nutrition Service page:
“Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued Nov. 1.”
The shutdown started on Oct. 1 after Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to reach an agreement on health care provisions in the federal budget. With both sides holding firm, it’s possible that the current government freeze will surpass the longest shutdown in American history of 35 days — which occurred between 2018 and 2019, during Donald Trump’s first presidency.
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