The lawsuit , filed Oct. 28 in Massachusetts, claims that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — is unlawfully threatening to cease paying benefits after the first of next month due to the ongoing federal shutdown.
Nessel and officials with the other states argue that the agency is legally obligated to use contingency funds and other means in its control to cover SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance in the form of funds made available to low-income individuals and families via benefit cards. More than 1.4 million Michiganders receive SNAP benefits.
"Emergency funding exists for exactly this kind of crisis," Nessel said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. "If the reality of 42 million Americans going hungry, including 1.4 million Michiganders, isn't an emergency, I don't know what is. It is cruel, inhumane and illegal to hold back emergency reserves while families struggle to put food on the table."
The lawsuit noted that in its shutdown plans ahead of the lapse in funding that took place Oct. 1, USDA said it was expected to use contingency funds previously approved by Congress and totaling just under $6 billion to pay for SNAP benefits if necessary. But USDA in late October put out a new memo indicating its position that it would be illegal for those contingency funds to be used to pay for SNAP benefits in a federal fiscal year in which a regular appropriation for the program hasn't been authorized, unless it was for a particular circumstance such as disaster relief.
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