A coalition of 23 Democratic attorneys generals and three governors are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its suspension of food benefits, which take effect on Nov. 1. They allege the Trump administration is illegally withholding contingency funds that could pay for the food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who joined the lawsuit, said Tuesday morning that 600,000 Kentuckians rely on the benefits, which come loaded on electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards each month.
“There are emergency funds sitting around that the president could use to fund the SNAP program,” Beshear said. “All he has to do is be willing to do it.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on Tuesday, comes as President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans continue to blame Democrats for the termination of food benefits for low-income Americans during the government shutdown.
A large notice at the top of the USDA website reads that the “well has run dry.”
“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats,” the USDA banner reads. “They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
Kentucky Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman posted online that the federal shutdown and Senate Democrats are to blame for the upcoming SNAP suspension. He and 18 Republican attorneys general called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to pass the clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
“We don’t need a partisan lawsuit,” Coleman wrote. “We just need to pass this bipartisan bill.”
Kentucky's sole Democratic Congress member says families will starve if the administration continues to withhold funding.
“Don’t tell me we can spend billions on aid for Argentina and a new White House ballroom, but there’s no will or way to get money out the door to feed American families,” said Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who represents Louisville.
Food pantries and nonprofits across Kentucky say the lapse in funding will likely put a heavy strain on their resources and place families in a difficult position ahead of the holiday season.
Sue Singleton is the director of the McCreary Christian Center, a food pantry in southern Kentucky near the border with Tennessee, which fed 680 Kentucky families in September. More than 40% of households in McCreary County rely on SNAP benefits, as of February 2025 data. Singleton said their food assistance is often a supplement for SNAP benefits, but they don’t have the resources to completely replace it.
“I don't think we've ever had this urgency, and worried about where food's going to come from and how we're going to feed people,” said Singleton, who has worked at the center for 25 years. “We've never had anything to quite compare to.”
The pantry is dealing with the same price pressures that their clients are, she said. Singleton described sending volunteers down to Walmart when she heard about a sale on canned goods.
“Walmart had canned corn and canned whole kernel corn and green beans on sale for 50 cents a can. So I and several of my volunteers made trips to Walmart on the weekend and loaded our vehicles down with it, because it's cheaper than we can get it,” Singleton said. “We are struggling.”
Jewish Family & Career Services Director of Advancement Courtney Evans said they’ve seen more people coming to their food bank in Louisville, hoping to stock up on essentials ahead of the November deadline. She said it felt like many people were "bracing for impact.”
“We have Thanksgiving bags going out in the next week and a half, and we're going to send some extra bags with folks, because we just want to make sure that they're prepared for anything that's going to come,” Evans said.
Evans said clients are already having to make difficult budgeting decisions assuming SNAP benefits aren’t coming next month. She said the organization helps many individuals who operate on a zero-balance budget, meaning the money to make up for benefits likely has to come from another essential category.
Donna Grayson, the president of Lending a Helping Hand Ministry food pantry in northeastern Lewis County, said the pantry already sees an increase around the holidays, and they’re bracing for even more need now.
“God always provides one way or the other,” Grayson said. “I'm not saying I don't worry, or I don't have that little thing in the back of my mind: ‘What if we run out of food?’ Because I still do. But like I said, God always comes through.”
This story has been updated to include additional details.
