House Speaker Mike Johnson erupted Thursday after learning that Democrat-led states filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for attempting to determine how many illegal aliens are receiving taxpayer-funded benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
At a press conference alongside USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, Johnson accused Senate Democrats of prioritizing political theater over feeding American families as the government shutdown entered its 31st day.
“They sued the USDA for asking them, simply asking them to tell them how many illegal aliens are on the programs in California, New York, and these other states,” Johnson said.
“They sued them. You need to take account of what people are doing here in each party, the leaders and the President of the United States.”
Johnson said Democrats have voted 14 times to block a clean continuing resolution that would reopen the government and restore funding to SNAP, which expired earlier this week.
He argued that Democrats have “manufactured a crisis” to weaponize the shutdown for political gain while millions of Americans struggle to afford groceries.
“We are trying to get government to work more efficiently and effectively for the people, and we are getting stopped and hindered by political games by Democrats,” Johnson said.
The lawsuit, led by Maine’s Democratic governor and joined by 21 blue states and the District of Columbia, accuses the USDA of unlawfully suspending SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
The coalition includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, 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 also joined the legal challenge.
The states argue the USDA has billions in contingency funds that could keep the program running without congressional approval.
USDA officials counter that the law requires congressional authorization to tap those funds and that Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean funding bill is the reason for the lapse.
“Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” a notice on the USDA website reads.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
Rollins defended the administration’s position, saying Democrats were misleading the public about SNAP funding and that the USDA had already warned states twice in October that benefits would end if Congress failed to act.
“There is a contingency fund at USDA,” Rollins said. “But it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded.”
She said the agency was following the law, not politics.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell, an Obama appointee, ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to temporarily restore SNAP payments, effectively overriding USDA discretion.
The ruling followed a similar decision by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts, who said the agency could tap into $5.3 billion in reserve funds to prevent interruptions.
Even so, officials warned that the funds fall short of the $9.2 billion needed to cover November benefits and that the agency cannot continue issuing payments without new legislation.
The administration said it is reviewing both rulings but maintains that Congress must act to reopen the government and fully restore the SNAP program.
