(The Center Square) – Wisconsin is joining the lawsuit to stop the end of SNAP benefits this weekend.
Gov. Tony Evers said President Trump, however, doesn’t have to wait on the case, that the president could simply give Wisconsin the $115 million needed to cover the state’s food stamp tab in November.
“They can do it. There’s nothing stopping them from doing it. In fact, we’re going to be suing them for not using the funds that they have,” the governor told reporters.
Attorney General Josh Kaul on Monday announced that he is joining 22 other AGs in the lawsuit.
“States have already taken steps to delay the issuance of November benefits, which will significantly harm millions of people who depend on SNAP to put food on the table, including children, seniors, veterans, disabled persons, and other vulnerable individuals struggling to meet their basic food needs,” the AGs wrote in a letter to the president. “The number of people affected, and the length of that delay, will grow each day that issuance files do not go out.”
Kaul and the other attorneys general also asked six questions about using leftover “funds” to cover November’s payments.
Unless Congress reopens the government, or a judge acts by Friday, nearly 700,000 people in Wisconsin won’t get their SNAP benefits on Saturday.
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Evers has said in the past that he may look to do something to protect people in Wisconsin from the effects of the federal shutdown, but he never said what. Last week he said that would not include using state money to cover Wisconsin’s food stamp costs.
Evers said food stamps are a federal issue, and said the federal government needs to deal with them.