A coalition of 21 state attorneys general sent a formal letter to U.S. Senate leadership on Tuesday, urging lawmakers to restore Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and protections in the upcoming Farm Bill. The group is asking the Senate to reject food assistance cuts originally passed in the House version of the bill and previous federal legislation.
The correspondence was directed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Chairman John Boozman and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar. The attorneys general argue that recent policy changes are hurting vulnerable populations and creating an unsustainable financial burden for local governments.
According to the letter, the cuts enacted over the last year represent “the largest reductions to food assistance in modern history.” The coalition states that these rollbacks are “forcing families to skip meals, creating new barriers to assistance for working people and seniors, and shifting billions of dollars in costs onto states and local governments.”
The letter cites recent economic data highlighting a sharp downward trend in program participation. National tracking data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that nationwide SNAP participation has dropped by more than 3.5 million people—nearly 9%—over the past year.
The impact varies by state, but the decline is widespread:
- 38 states have seen SNAP participation drop by 5% or more.
- 13 states have experienced drops of 10% or more.
The prosecutors also raised alarms over a structural shift in funding obligations. Under the House-passed rules, states are required to shoulder billions of dollars in new administrative and cost-sharing expenses. The letter warns that these financial demands are so severe that some states may have to choose between raising taxes, cutting essential public services, or withdrawing from the SNAP program entirely.
The political push comes on the heels of a recent legal victory for the states. On June 6, 2026, a federal court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in Mass. et al. v. U.S.D.A., blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture from withholding billions of dollars in agricultural and nutrition funds. The federal government had attempted to tie the funding to state compliance with unrelated policy directives regarding immigration and diversity initiatives.
While celebrating the court ruling, the attorneys general emphasized that legal battles are not a permanent fix. They noted that “litigation alone cannot prevent the harm caused by policies that make it harder for eligible families to access food assistance or that shift federal obligations onto state taxpayers.”
The coalition explicitly called on the Senate to use the Farm Bill to reverse the expansion of work requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD), eliminate new cost-sharing mandates on states, and protect benefit levels for seniors, children, veterans, and low-income workers.
“Congress should not balance budgets on the backs of families struggling to put food on the table,” the letter concluded. “Reducing access to nutrition assistance is both economically shortsighted and morally wrong.”
The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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