{"id":48580,"date":"2026-06-08T11:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48580"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:24:18","slug":"judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-holding-billions-in-food-aid-funds-hostage-to-its-political-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-holding-billions-in-food-aid-funds-hostage-to-its-political-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Holding Billions in Food Aid Funds \u2018Hostage to Its Political Agenda\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"SNAP<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A sign states that a business accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in Gas City, Indiana on July 22, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by jetcityimage\/iStock Editorial\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table,\u201d said the state\u2019s attorney general, who is among the 21 AGs behind the case.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked an attempt by the US Department of Agriculture<\/a> to force state governments to comply with President Donald Trump\u2019s positions on gender and immigration<\/a> or lose out on billions of dollars in funding, including for food assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and 20 Democrat-led states sued<\/a> the department and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in March, arguing that \u201cUSDA<\/a> has now thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the states that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Blatant Abuse of Power\u2019 Blocked as Judge Puts Temporary Halt on Trump\u2019s $1.8 Billion Slush Fund<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He\u2019s Just Stealing Your Money\u2019: House Dems Launch Bid to Block $1.8 Billion Trump-MAGA \u2018Slush Fund\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the Trump administration<\/a> imposed \u201ca vague set of funding conditions relating to USDA\u2019s purported anti-discrimination \u2018policies,\u2019 \u2018gender ideology,\u2019 \u2018fair athletic opportunities\u2019 for women and girls, and immigration,\u201d without specifying the policies or even confirming \u201cthat certification is limited to currently existing policies,\u201d says the complaint, filed in the District of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The March filing also makes the case that \u201ceven if USDA went back and cured its vagueness problem and conducted a reasoned analysis before taking final agency action, the challenged conditions would still be unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While US District Judge Myong Joun has not explicitly agreed, the appointee of former President Joe Biden<\/a> granted a preliminary injunction sought by the AGs and said he would issue a memorandum explaining his decision at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming the judge\u2019s unexplained decision on social media<\/a>, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield highlighted<\/a> that the move safeguards funding for school lunches, emergency aid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP<\/a>), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children<\/a> (WIC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table,\u201d Rayfield said. \u201cThe court rejected the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to hold school lunches, WIC, and SNAP hostage to its political agenda. These are lifelines for 86,000 Oregon kids, working families, seniors, and rural communities\u2014and they will remain protected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James also celebrated<\/a> that \u201cwe won a court order protecting billions of dollars in USDA funding as our lawsuit continues,\u201d and pledged that \u201cmy office will keep fighting to protect New Yorkers and stop the federal government from punishing our state for refusing to bend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bluesky: https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/embed\/did:plc:kf7a7dwck623lwbv3yii5q4f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mnkzpqxzik2f?id=5006442659431183&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Ftrump-snap&colorMode=system<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other states involved in the case are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine<\/a>, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont<\/a>, Virginia<\/a>, Washington<\/a>, and Wisconsin<\/a>. Collectively, according to the complaint, \u201c’plaintiff states receive over $74 billion annually in funding from USDA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge\u2019s decision came on the heels of four Democrats in the US House<\/a> of Representatives voting<\/a> with Republicans<\/a> to approve legislation that the Center on Budget<\/a> and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has estimated<\/a> would strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from \u201cnearly 5.4 million toddlers, preschoolers, and pregnant and postpartum WIC participants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already, since congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, at least hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost<\/a> federal food assistance. Last month, Trump\u2019s USDA chief suggested that some of them were receiving SNAP benefits fraudulently\u2014without offering evidence\u2014while others are \u201cmoving into the American dream and off of welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at CBPP, responded that \u201cunless the Trump administration has redefined \u2018the American dream\u2019 to mean \u2018losing the help your family needs to afford groceries because of federal cuts,\u2019 I have some bad news for Secretary Rollins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sign states that a business accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in Gas City, Indiana on July 22, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by jetcityimage\/iStock Editorial\/Getty Images) \u201cThis protects every Oregon family who depends on these programs to put food on the table,\u201d said the state\u2019s attorney general, who is among the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1879],"tags":[1993,335],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48581,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48580\/revisions\/48581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}