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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today issued the following statement after a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts issued an order finding that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must use its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) contingency funds to fund the program during the ongoing federal government shutdown. The Court also found the federal government may consider other funding sources to fully fund the program in November. USDA has until the end of the day on Monday to let the Court know whether it will fully or partially fund the SNAP program.
The order comes after Attorney General Brown joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and three governors in suing the Trump administration for suspending SNAP benefits in a manner that is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. Today’s order makes clear that USDA must use contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits. The federal Administration has indicated that the funds will not be enough to cover the cost of November SNAP for all 50 states, and the order puts the ball in the federal government’s court. The federal government must tell the Court by Monday, November 3, whether it will authorize the benefits needed to ensure that 42 million Americans do not risk going hungry in November.
Statement from Attorney General Anthony Brown:
“The Court agreed that USDA can’t lawfully cut off Marylanders’ SNAP benefits. As this case moves forward, we will continue to fight in court to force the federal government to fund SNAP benefits that families rely on to put food on the table. The Marylanders who depend on SNAP include seniors on fixed incomes, parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet, and students so hungry that they can’t pay attention in school. Every Marylander deserves the dignity of knowing where their next meal will come from. We will not allow the Trump administration to take food from children's mouths when they have the money to feed them.”
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