"SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides food assistance (food stamps) to around 5.5 million Californians, and around 41 million Americans, most of them families and older adults. As of several weeks ago, the USDA did an about-face, reneging on an earlier plan to make sure November benefits were covered, and informed states that benefits would not be paid out on November 1 blaming Democrats for not ending the government shutdown."
"Bonta pointed to the precendent of previous shutdowns, and to the very words stated by the USDA at the start of the shutdown in communications with states, in arguing that the government has $5 billion to $6 billion in contingency funds that should be tapped for this situation, in order to prevent people from going hungry. Bonta noted that this is the first time the USDA has decided to withhold SNAP benefits during a shutdown since they were made permanent in the 1960s."
""In abruptly ending SNAP Benefits, Trump and Rollins have broken the law," Bonta said at the new conference. He said they were making statements about running out of money "even though there are billions of dollars in contingency funds that could be used to pay these benefits," and, "This is what contingency funds are for, exactly this type of situation.""
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the state's 45th lawsuit of the year, joining about two dozen states suing the USDA for withholding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. SNAP provides food assistance to roughly 5.5 million Californians and about 41 million Americans, primarily families and older adults. The USDA reversed an earlier plan to cover November benefits and notified states that benefits would not be paid on November 1, blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Bonta asserted that $5 billion to $6 billion in contingency funds exist and should be used to prevent hunger. Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed contingency funds are not legally available, and Republicans have said "The well has run dry." Bonta said the abrupt cutoff broke the law.
Read at sfist.com
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