National Council of Nonprofits and Nationwide Coalition Sue to Protect Food Security for Millions

National Council of Nonprofits and Nationwide Coalition Sue to Protect Food Security for Millions as Trump Administration Refuses to Use Available Funds

Washington, D.C. – As millions of families face the loss of vital food assistance, the National Council of Nonprofits along with a coalition of local governments, community- and faith-based nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and workers’ rights organizations filed a lawsuit 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). Democracy Forward and the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island represent plaintiffs.

"Denying millions of Americans access to basic food security is unlawful and unconscionable, and it threatens to push local nonprofit food banks, food pantries, and other organizations beyond the breaking point,” said Diane Yentel, President and CEO, National Council of Nonprofits. “Nonprofits are already doing everything they can to feed families and care for their communities amidst increasing need and diminishing resources, but they cannot replace federal nutrition programs, nor can they meet the tsunami of need that would result without SNAP benefits. We are suing the Trump administration because without federal food assistance, nonprofits will be left with an impossible burden and millions of people will go hungry.”

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: Amos House; East Bay Community Action Program; Federal Hill House Association; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center; Milagros Project; the National Council on Nonprofits (NCN); New York Legal Assistance Group; Rhode Island Council of Churches; 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).

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, and Robin Thurston. The legal team for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island is Amy Romero and Kevin Love Hubbard, from DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd.

About the National Council of Nonprofits
Communities thrive when nonprofits succeed. For more than 30 years, the National Council of Nonprofits has mobilized the largest network of nonprofits in the United States to achieve transformative results. We champion, connect, and inform nonprofits across the country. Join our collective efforts to ensure a connected and powerful nonprofit community equipped to champion the public good.