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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday, alleging that the department is illegally suspending federal food benefits despite available money.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, has more than two dozen Democratic attorneys general on board. It also names U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Booke Rollins and U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought as defendants.
“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,” Weiser said in a statement, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “The government is legally required to make payments to those who meet the program requirements.”
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SNAP is a federal safety net program that provides about $120 million in direct benefits to 600,000 Coloradans per month. Money for the program comes from annual congressional appropriations, which lapsed at the beginning of the month as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
SNAP benefits cost about $8.3 billion per month in the previous fiscal year.
The lawsuit alleges that a USDA memo from the end of September acknowledges the existence of multi-year contingency funds “available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
Those funds include $3 billion appropriated in 2024 and another $3 billion appropriated in 2025. There is also over $23 billion in the department’s so-called Section 32 account, which is funded in part by customs duties. The federal government drew money from that account earlier this month to partially fund the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC.
On Oct. 10, however, USDA then advised SNAP agencies that there would not be enough money to cover November benefits if the shutdown continues. Last week, USDA issued a memo saying it could use the available money only when there is an insufficient appropriation and that currently an appropriate for SNAP does not exist.
“USDA’s claim that the SNAP contingency funds cannot be used to fund SNAP benefits during an appropriation lapse is contrary to the plain text of the congressional appropriations law, which states that the reserves are for use ‘in such amounts and at such times as may become necessary to carry out program operations,’” the lawsuit reads.
Republicans continue to blame Democrats for the shutdown. A banner at the top of the USDA website reads “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.” It is one of many politicized messages across the federal government released recently.
Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of Congress, but need Democratic support in the Senate under current rules to pass a government funding deal. Democrats oppose the funding bill, primarily because it does not extend enhanced tax credits for people who buy health insurance on individual marketplaces.
