NYLAG & Nationwide Coalition Sue to Protect Food Security for Millions as Federal Government Refuses to Use Available Funds

NYLAG & Nationwide Coalition Sue to Protect Food Security for Millions as Federal Government Refuses to Use Available Funds

• October 30, 2025
• 4:57 pm

Providence, R.I. - As millions of families face the loss of vital food assistance, a coalition of local governments, charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and workers' rights organizations filed a lawsuit and a motion for immediate relief today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island challenging the Trump-Vance administration's unlawful suspension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) is among the named plaintiffs represented by Democracy Forward and the Lawyers' Committee for Rhode Island.

"Our clients rely on SNAP to feed their families and, if November benefits are not issued or if the USDA prematurely terminates the existing waiver of federal work requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents, SNAP recipients - the majority of whom are children, seniors or people with disabilities - will starve," said Abby Biberman, Associate Director, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)'s Public Benefits Unit. "We are already receiving frantic calls from clients and community members who are desperately worried they will be unable to feed themselves and their families in November, and we anticipate our resources as an organization will be overwhelmed by the catastrophic level of need that would result if millions lose access to food assistance."

The case challenges two unlawful actions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): its refusal to use available funds to maintain SNAP benefits during the ongoing government shutdown, and its abrupt termination of existing waivers protecting part-time workers and job seekers from losing benefits in regions with few jobs. Together, these decisions threaten to cut off essential food support to more than 42 million people, including children, seniors, and veterans, beginning November 1.

The lawsuit argues that the administration's actions violate federal law and the Administrative Procedure Act. SNAP has long served as the nation's first line of defense against hunger and has helped stabilize local economies during crises. Yet the Trump-Vance administration has directed states to withhold benefits and dismantled established safeguards-without authority, justification, or notice.

Plaintiffs include municipalities: City of Albuquerque, New Mexico; City of Baltimore, Maryland; City of Central Falls, Rhode Island; City of Columbus, Ohio; City of Durham, North Carolina; City of New Haven, Connecticut; City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; City of Providence, Rhode Island; charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations: Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Amos House; East Bay Community Action Program; Federal Hill House Association; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center; The Milagros Project; the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN); New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG); United Way of Rhode Island; business and union organizations: Main Street Alliance; Black Sheep Market in Greenville, South Carolina; and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Quotes from plaintiffs and co-counsel are available here.

The complaint details how the administration's actions will inflict immediate and irreparable harm on families and communities across the country-forcing families to skip meals, overwhelming food pantries, and harming small businesses that rely on SNAP transactions to stay afloat. It also exposes how the Trump-Vance administration has reversed USDA's longstanding policy under previous administrations' guidance that contingency funds should be used to sustain SNAP operations during funding lapses.

Before the Trump-Vance administration's abrupt reversal, federal guidance made clear that SNAP contingency funds were to be made available during lapses in government funding. The lawsuit asks the court to order USDA to resume November benefits, protect the program itself, and halt its premature termination of SNAP work requirement waivers in affected states.

The case is Rhode Island State Council of Churches v. Rollins, and the legal team at Democracy Forward includes Kristin Bateman, Jyoti Jasrasaria, Michael Torcello, Andrew Bookbinder, Adnan Perwez, Robin Thurston, and Skye L. Perryman. The legal team for the Lawyers' Committee for Rhode Island is Amy Romero and Kevin Love Hubbard, from DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd.

Read the filing here and the motion for temporary restraining order here.

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