Shutdown fight threatens to cut off aid for 43 million Americans
Attorneys general and governors from 25 Democratic-led states filed suit Oct. 28 to block the Trump administration from halting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments beginning Nov. 1, as the federal shutdown stretched into its 28th day.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, challenges a U.S. Department of Agriculture memo claiming it cannot tap contingency funds to pay SNAP benefits. That stance contradicts earlier USDA guidance stating the funds could be used “in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
Led by Massachusetts, California, Arizona, and Minnesota, the coalition argues that withholding food assistance violates the Food and Nutrition Act, which requires that aid “shall be furnished to all eligible households.” If allowed to stand, it would mark the first time in SNAP’s six-decade history that benefits were suspended due to a government shutdown.
“Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) acknowledged the administration had found funding workarounds for other programs such as WIC and military pay, but not for SNAP. President Trump – currently on an Asian tour – has warned that “Democrat programs” could face cuts if the standoff continues, a signal many interpret as pressure on Democrats to drop demands for restored Medicaid and ACA funding removed under Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The Iowa Angle
Iowa, home to more than 270,000 residents who rely on SNAP benefits, did not join the multistate lawsuit. Iowa’s homeschooled Attorney General Brenna Bird, who has been busy leading legal challenges to birthright citizenship for certain U.S.-born children, apparently found no time to defend Iowans’ access to food. And for now, state officials have not indicated any plan to act independently should SNAP payments stop.
With November approaching and federal negotiations stalled, the political food fight in Washington could soon become a literal one in Iowa’s grocery aisles.
