Press Statement  AG Campbell Issues Statement After Supreme Court Blocks Court Order Requiring USDA To Fund Full SNAP Benefits

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today issued the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) request to suspend a lower court’s order compelling them to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

“The Trump Administration has the money to fully fund the SNAP program but is on a mission to withhold that funding so that they can continue to use the hunger of 42 million Americans as a bargaining chip,” said AG Campbell. “I am disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision to enable the federal government to withhold resources to feed millions of Americans – including children, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans as we approach Veteran’s Day and the holidays. As our lawsuit proceeds, I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure our residents have access to food.” 

The Supreme Court’s decision comes after the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ordered the federal government to fully fund the SNAP program, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit subsequently denied the federal government’s request to immediately suspend the lower court’s decision. The federal government then filed an application in the Supreme Court, which granted the USDA’s motion for an administrative stay. 

AG Campbell is currently co-leading a coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia in a similar lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In that case, a judge ordered that the federal government is required to fund the SNAP program using all of its SNAP contingency funding and said that they may also fund the program using other funding sources if the contingency fund would not cover the full cost of the program. The states have since asked the Court to compel the government to use other funding sources to fully fund the SNAP program, as the federal government’s decision to only partially fund the program has created unacceptable delays and needless complications.