Connecticut and New York are suing to stop the Trump administration from suspending SNAP payments on Nov. 1. They’re joining 20 other states and the District of Columbia.
It’s illegal for Trump to stop SNAP food assistance payments to more than 42 million recipients nationwide because of the federal government shutdown, said Connecticut Attorney General Tong, at the announcement of the lawsuit at his office in Hartford on Tuesday.
“Trump can fix this right now by not breaking the law, by following the command of Congress. And that’s why we are suing him today,” Tong said.
“Donald Trump can say I’m going to fund SNAP. That is the quickest, the most efficient way to make this happen,” he said.
The government has a $6 billion contingency that could continue funding for SNAP, according to Congresswoman Jahana Hayes of Connecticut,
“The Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary (Brooke) Rollins, also already has the legal authority to transfer any remaining funds to cover the $8 billion that it would cost to fully fund SNAP for the month of November,” Hayes said, who is the ranking Democrat on the Nutrition Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.
In Connecticut, hundreds of thousands of people would lose access to food if the benefit is shut off, according to officials.
In New York, SNAP serves nearly three million people, including about a million children.
