A new lawsuit filed Tuesday by officials in Colorado and other Democratic states seeks to uncork emergency money to help tens of millions of Americans keep buying food for their families after federal SNAP funding is expected to run dry Saturday due to the U.S. government shutdown.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries. A halt to SNAP benefits would leave a gaping hole in the country’s safety net. Vulnerable families could see federal money dry up soon for some other programs, as well.
Funding for a group of Head Start preschool programs is set to run out Saturday.
Aid for mothers to care for their newborns through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, could run out the following week.
Tuesday’s legal filing from attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia, plus three governors, focuses on a federal contingency fund with roughly $5 billion in it — enough to pay for the benefits for more than half a month.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Agriculture said in September that its plan for a shutdown included using the money to keep SNAP running. But in a memo last week, it said that it couldn’t legally use that money for such a purpose.
The Democratic officials contend the administration is legally required to keep benefits going as long as it has funding.
“It is clear President Trump and his USDA are making a deliberate, illegal and inhumane choice to not fund the SNAP program during the federal government shutdown despite the availability of contingency funds,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “…We are asking the court to resume essential food assistance for the more than 600,000 Coloradans who use SNAP benefits to feed themselves or their families.”
The agency said debit cards beneficiaries use as part of SNAP to buy groceries will not be reloaded as of Nov. 1.
With their own coalition, 19 Republican state attorneys general sent Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a letter Tuesday urging passage of a “clean continuing resolution” to keep funding SNAP benefits.
Most SNAP participants are families with children, more than 1 in 3 include older adults or someone with a disability, and close to 2 in 5 are households where someone is employed. Most have incomes that put them below the poverty line, about $32,000 in income for a family of four, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The average monthly benefit is $187 per person.
Beneficiaries say that without the aid, they’ll be forced to choose between buying food and paying other bills. Food banks are preparing for a spike in demand that they’ll have to navigate with decreased federal aid themselves.
The debit cards are recharged in slightly different ways in each state. Not everyone receives their benefits on the first day of the month, though many beneficiaries get them early in the month.
States expect retailers will be able to accept cards with balances on them, even if they’re not replenished.
State governments controlled by both Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to help recipients. But several say they don’t have the technical ability to fund the regular benefits.
Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia have pledged to provide some type of backup food aid for recipients even while the shutdown stalls the federal program, though state-level details haven’t been announced.
More funding for food banks and pantries is planned in states including New Hampshire, Minnesota, California, New Mexico, Connecticut and New York.
The USDA advised Friday that states won’t be reimbursed for funding the benefits.
Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Tuesday that the state is opening a nonprofit fund typically used for disasters to give grants to food banks. But the fund is empty and will need immediate donations. Last year, it raised $6 million for Hurricane Helene relief. Each month, more than $100 million in SNAP benefits are delivered in South Carolina.
In Pennsylvania, where a budget stalemate has held up more than $25 million in aid to food banks, Democratic lawmakers are pushing for $60 million in emergency aid for food banks and meals on wheels programs.
The Trump administration is blaming Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
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