Day: October 28, 2025

As 1.8 million New York City residents 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.

James and a coalition of 25 other state leaders and governors argue that the USDA’s 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.

“Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” AG James said in a statement. “SNAP is one of our nation’s 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.”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Massachusetts, contends that the USDA’s 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 “unlawfully refused” to use them.

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.

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.

The suspension, set to take effect Nov. 1, would mark the first time in SNAP’s 60-year history that monthly benefits are halted during a federal shutdown.

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.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who on Monday injected an additional $30 million in emergency food assistance funding for pantries statewide, warned that the state is “staring down a public health crisis” if the emergency funding is not released.

“New York will not sit idly by when lives are on the line. We’re 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,” said Hochul.

‘A disgrace’ 

USDA Secretary Rollins appeared on Fox News on Tuesday, claiming that there are no ‘pots of money’ to fund SNAP while the shutdown continues.

“One hundred percent unequivocally, USDA does not have the $9.2 billion that it would require,” Sec. Rollins said. “There are not just pots of $9.2 billion sitting around.”

She went on to pivot to a Republican talking point of blaming Democrats for the shutdown, saying “shame on” the blue states, like New York, for pursuing the lawsuit over pressuring their elected officials to vote to reopen the government.

Likewise, a USDA spokesperson blamed Senate Democrats for the impending SNAP funding freeze, describing it as a pivotal moment for Senate Democrats.

“Continue to hold out for the Far-Left wing of the party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to amNewYork. 

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration of manufacturing the impending hunger crisis for millions, saying the president had ordered the USDA to rip up its own contingency plan in order to get Democrats to fold and pass a “Republican CR (continuing resolution) that has zero bipartisan input” and does nothing to renew Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of the year.

“Isn’t that a disgrace? He is using hungry kids, hungry parents, and hungry veterans as hostages. It’s cruel,” Schumer said. “There is somewhere around five billion dollars in emergency funds that could be used right now to ensure parents and kids don’t go hungry when SNAP runs out this Saturday.”

“The USDA said weeks ago that contingency funds were available to fund participant benefits. That’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Trump’s own cabinet position,” Schumer continued. “But now they have reversed course and literally wiped their plan from their own website, because Donald Trump has ordered them not to use this funding.”