![\"2025-10-24T100211Z_907402754_RC2D6R97QOHV_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-JAMES\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T100211Z_907402754_RC2D6R97QOHV_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-JAMES.jpg\" "\\"SNAP")
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Photo by REUTERS\/Joy Malone\/<\/p>\n
As 1.8 million New York City residents<\/a> brace for their food assistance to be cut off this Saturday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced a multistate lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday over its decision to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the ongoing federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n James and a coalition of 25 other state leaders and governors argue that the USDA\u2019s refusal to issue November SNAP payments to more than 40 million Americans, including nearly three million across New York state, is illegal and will leave countless families without the resources to buy food.<\/p>\n \u201cMillions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,\u201d AG James said in a statement. \u201cSNAP is one of our nation\u2019s 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. The federal government must do its job to protect families.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit<\/a>, filed Tuesday in federal court in Massachusetts, contends that the USDA\u2019s suspension of benefits violates the Food and Nutrition Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint argues that the agency has access to more than $6 billion in contingency funds that Congress specifically set aside to maintain food assistance during funding lapses, but has \u201cunlawfully refused\u201d to use them.<\/p>\n In New York City alone, 1.8 million residents rely on SNAP to help buy groceries, roughly one in five city dwellers. Statewide, the program supports nearly three million people, including about one million children and more than 600,000 older adults, distributing roughly $650 million in food benefits each month.<\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks an emergency court order requiring the USDA to use available funds to issue November benefits. It also names USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, the Office of Management and Budget, and its director, Russell Vought as defendants.<\/p>\n The suspension, set to take effect Nov. 1, would mark the first time in SNAP\u2019s 60-year history that monthly benefits are halted during a federal shutdown.\n<\/p>\n Joining New York in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and 18 other states, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Gov. Kathy Hochul, who on Monday injected an additional $30 million<\/a> in emergency food assistance funding for pantries statewide, warned that the state is \u201cstaring down a public health crisis\u201d if the emergency funding is not released.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York will not sit idly by when lives are on the line. We\u2019re proud to assist the Office of the Attorney General in joining 24 other states in suing the Trump Administration, demanding the release of emergency funds so families can continue to put food on the table through this government shutdown,\u201d said Hochul.<\/p>\n \u2018A disgrace\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T155950Z_1148376734_RC2DIHAG4UFK_RTRMADP_3_USA-SHUTDOWN.jpg\" "\\"SNAP")
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