Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 22 of her counterparts filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging the agency is using the ongoing federal government shutdown to unlawfully suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that delivers food aid to 40 million Americans.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 22 of her counterparts filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging the agency is using the ongoing federal government shutdown to unlawfully suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that delivers food aid to 40 million Americans.
The lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, aims to maintain the flow of SNAP benefits that are at risk on Nov. 1.
Rollins said in a TV interview Tuesday that Senate Democrats have repeatedly rejected stopgap spending measures that could enable the government to reopen and prevent any disruption in the delivery of SNAP benefits.
“We’re asking the court to immediately turn these benefits back on to prevent any harm that will happen not only to our residents, but to our economy because SNAP recipients won’t be the only ones who suffer,” Campbell said during a rally organized by the Make Hunger History Coalition.
“Our families and our state won’t be able to close the gap, a gap of nearly $240 million every single month,” Campbell continued. “So it is past time that this administration do what’s right, act to help and not to harm, our residents that rely on government.”
The commonwealth is listed as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
