By Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom praised the rulings of two federal judges who found that the Trump administration illegally withheld Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds during the ongoing government shutdown.
“I’m proud to see courts agree that the Trump Administration has a legal responsibility to support the SNAP program,” Newsom said. “The USDA needs to release all available funding for this critical program immediately. We’re not going to sit idly by while families go hungry. It’s cruel, it’s immoral, and it’s beneath us as a nation. California will keep fighting to make sure people get the food assistance they need and deserve.”
The rulings, issued in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, determined that the federal government is required to continue funding SNAP using emergency reserve funds. The judges ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make the funds available, either partially or in full, for November.
In the Rhode Island case, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ruled from the bench that the program must be funded using contingency funds and directed the government to provide an update by Monday. He also ordered that all previous work requirement waivers continue to be honored.
In Massachusetts, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled in a written opinion that the USDA’s suspension of SNAP payments was “unlawful” and clarified that the agency must use contingency funds to ensure continuation of benefits.
The rulings follow lawsuits filed by a coalition of states, cities, and nonprofit organizations contending that the Trump administration’s refusal to fund SNAP during the shutdown violated federal law. The USDA had claimed it could not legally use its $5 billion contingency fund or the additional $23 billion available in other USDA accounts.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the decisions confirm what Democrats have argued: “The administration is choosing not to feed Americans in need, despite knowing that it is legally required to do so.”
President Donald Trump responded on social media, stating, “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”
Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, said the rulings are a “massive victory for the 42 million Americans — most of whom are low-paid workers, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and/or veterans — who need SNAP to help put food on the table.”
“If USDA acts quickly to make even partial November payments, this will forestall what would have been the greatest hunger crisis in America since the Great Depression,” Berg said.
He added that the rulings underscore the importance of “Constitutional checks and balances” and an “independent judiciary” as “a pillar of any functioning democracy.”
However, Berg cautioned that “SNAP benefits will be somewhat delayed, and, in any case, this decision only kicks the can down the road for a few weeks.”
Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, said the decision helps “thousands of nonprofit food banks, pantries and other organizations across the country avoid the impossible burden that would have resulted if SNAP benefits had been halted.”
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the Rhode Island ruling “protects millions of families, seniors, and veterans from being used as leverage in a political fight and upholds the principle that no one in America should go hungry.”
Governor Newsom emphasized that while federal funding delays continue, California is deploying $80 million in state funds to stabilize food distribution and offset the impact of suspended federal benefits. The governor also mobilized the California National Guard and California Volunteers to assist food banks with meal distribution statewide.
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