Arizona and California join other states in suing Trump over SNAP benefits suspension

Phoenix, Ariz. – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia in demanding that the Trump administration continue funding the food assistance program that benefits over 40 million Americans, including millions of Californians and hundreds of thousands of Arizonans.

Filed Tuesday amidst an ongoing government shutdown, the lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary Brooke Rollins, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Secretary Russell Vought and the U.S. as defendants in a claim that calls on the suspension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as “unlawful.”

“Donald Trump is cutting off food assistance for nearly 900,000 Arizonans as we head into the month of Thanksgiving,” Mayes said in a statement. “I’m suing to stop him and protect the seniors, veterans, working families and their children all across Arizona who rely on the few hundred dollars a month provided by SNAP to feed themselves.”

Among the states suing are also Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington. 

As a result of the ongoing government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 and has continued due to Congress’ inability to agree on a funding bill, the USDA advised state agencies nationwide that there would be insufficient funding to cover benefits in November and therefore would be suspending the program for that month.

But according to Mayes, since its inception over 60 years ago, the program has never lapsed in service, even during government shutdowns. The suit claims that a $6 billion emergency reserve approved by Congress should be used to cover the benefits, and that the U.S. government lacks the authority to withhold those payments.

“Where Congress has clearly spoken, providing that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise,” she said in a statement.

According to Mayes, the USDA is continuing to fund other programs during the shutdown. Choosing not to fund SNAP benefits is “a deliberate, illegal and inhumane choice.”

About 40% of SNAP benefits distributed in Arizona feed children, Mayes said, and nearly 30,000 Arizona veterans rely on the program to buy groceries each month.

Suspending the program would not only harm individuals and families who rely on those benefits to feed themselves, but it would also hurt the state’s economy, where more than 4,600 Arizona retailers accept SNAP payments, she added.