As SNAP benefits run out at the end of this month, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit against the USDA and Secretary Brooke Rollins for unlawfully suspending the SNAP benefits – which help over 40-million Americans buy food – due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. On October 10, USDA sent a letter to state SNAP agencies saying if the federal government shutdown continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for the approximately 42-million individuals who relay on them.
The federal government funds and sets the monthly amount of SNAP benefits, but states administer the programs in their own state. Congress has spoken that providing SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown – USDA doesn’t have the authority to say otherwise. The coalitions is also filing a temporary restraining order later today asking the court to immediately turn benefits back on.
“More than 680,000 Marylanders – including 262,000 children – rely on SNAP to put food on the table,” said Attorney General Brown. “Time is running out to prevent hundreds of thousands of Maryland families from losing access to food. We’re taking the Trump administration to court because Maryland’s children and families deserve better than a federal government that chooses to let them go hungry despite having the resources to help.”
On October 1, 2025, the new federal fiscal year began without an appropriation by Congress to fund the federal government, creating a “government shutdown.” On October 10, USDA sent a letter to state SNAP agencies saying that if the shutdown continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for the approximately 42 million individuals across the country that rely on them.
Despite USDA’s claim of insufficient funds, Congress appropriated billions of dollars in SNAP-specific contingency funds to the agency for this very purpose. Furthermore, USDA has funded other programs during this shutdown, but has refused to fund SNAP, leaving millions of Americans without the assistance they need to buy food. It is clear the federal government is making a deliberate, unlawful, and inhumane choice not to fund the crucial SNAP program.
The lapse in benefits will have dire consequences for the health and well-being of millions across the country, who rely on the program to feed themselves and their families. This lapse will also put unnecessary strain on state and local governments and community organizations, as families increasingly rely on emergency services and local food pantries that are already struggling to fill a growing nutrition gap. It will affect our school systems and college and university communities, where food insecurity will stand in the way of educating our students. Suspending SNAP benefits will also harm the hundreds of thousands of grocers and merchants that accept SNAP payment for food purchases across the country. USDA has estimated that in a slowing economy, every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity.
In Maryland, SNAP feeds over 680,000 Marylanders monthly. In May 2025, Maryland SNAP customers included 262,248 children under age 18; 121,615 seniors aged 62 and older; 128,705 people with disabilities; and 28,843 people experiencing homelessness.
While the federal government funds and sets the monthly amount of SNAP benefits, states are responsible for administering programs in their state. Suspending SNAP benefits in this manner is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. Where Congress has clearly spoken, providing that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise. The coalition will also be filing a temporary restraining order later today asking the court to immediately turn benefits back on.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania have also joined.
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