Preliminary injunction granted against USDA SNAP demand
USDA asked state to recertify 100,000 SNAP recipients via in-person interviews within 30 days or lose funding
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is safe, for the time being, thanks to a preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
According to a press release from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the injunction blocks the USDA’s Dec. 16 demand that, within 30 days, the state interview in person and recertify 100,000 Minnesotans receiving SNAP benefits, or lose all SNAP funding. Currently, the federal government covers all SNAP costs, though some of those costs will be increasingly shifted to the state in the coming years.
In a release late last month, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called USDA’s demand both “impossible” and “unlawful,” noting that SNAP recipients’ eligibility is already reviewed on a yearly basis.
Ellison celebrated Wednesday’s injunction, stating in the release that he was pleased to have stopped SNAP funds from being taken from Minnesotans who rely on them.
In Minnesota, roughly 440,000 people receive SNAP benefits each month, including approximately 180,000 children, 70,000 seniors, and 50,000 adults with disabilities.
However, on Jan. 9, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posted a letter on X indicating that USDA would freeze $129 million in awards to Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families is still evaluating the impact of that action, which Ellison indicated that he would also challenge in the courts.
SNAP, along with other social safety net programs funded by the federal government, still remain in danger in Minnesota. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that starting Feb. 1, he will withhold federal funding to any state with cities or towns resisting immigration policies. That would include Minnesota, as demonstrations have been ongoing against immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis.
According to AP News, previous attempts to halt funds in that manner were shut down by the courts.