NEW YORK, November 5. . Poor Americans have filed a lawsuit against the administration of US President Donald Trump, demanding the immediate release of food assistance funds. The agency reported this Bloomberg.
More than 40 million Americans will face, as previously reported, delays in food assistance due to the federal government shutdown. The class action lawsuit comes “amid conflicting signals from the administration about compliance with the court order to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).” In the last fiscal year 2024-2025 (ending in September), nearly $100 billion was allocated to support about 42 million people.
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland, California, the law requires the government to provide benefits in full and on time, “regardless of whether the United States Congress appropriates funds through an annual appropriations act or permanent resolution.” “Americans should not go hungry because Congress cannot agree on a federal budget,” the document said.
As the US leader previously stated, the White House does not have the authority to allocate funds for the additional food assistance program due to the government shutdown. The US leader instructed lawyers to urgently go to court with a request to clarify how SNAP is legally funded.
The partial shutdown of the US federal government, which became the longest shutdown in the country's history, began at midnight on October 1 (07:00 Moscow time) due to lack of funding. This happened because representatives of the ruling Republican Party and the opposition Democratic Party in Congress could not reach an agreement on several spending items, including the health care sector. Democrats and Republicans accused each other of inciting and prolonging the shutdown for political purposes.
