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by Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern
October 28, 2025
Gov. Andy Beshear is one of more than two dozen Democratic state officials who sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its decision to halt food assistance to 42 million Americans during the government shutdown.
“There are emergency funds sitting around that the president could use to fund the SNAP program,” Beshear said in a Tuesday press conference. “All he has to do is be willing to do it.”
Federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will run out on Nov. 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has told states, leaving around 563,080 Kentuckians facing even worse food insecurity.
Kentucky food banks, meanwhile, are bracing for a “catastrophic” hit.
The lawsuit Beshear is part of, filed Tuesday in federal court in Massachusetts, asks for “a declaration that USDA is required to furnish the SNAP benefits that have already been calculated and determined.”
The suit says the USDA acknowledged as recently as last month that SNAP benefits should continue during a government shutdown with billions of dollars appropriated by Congress for such contingencies. During earlier shutdowns, SNAP benefits continued, the lawsuit says.
Upcoming federal food assistance pause intensifies shutdown fight
A USDA memo published by NPR said that “there is no provision or allowance under current law for states to cover the cost of benefits and be reimbursed” and that “SNAP contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits.”
This position conflicts with the USDA’s previous shutdown plan, which was to use the contingency funds for SNAP benefits during the shutdown, States Newsroom has reported.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman signed a letter along with other Republican attorneys general addressed to U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asking for support of a Republican-backed “clean continuing resolution” to end the shutdown. That letter says that “keeping the government open requires cooperation, not partisanship.”
Coleman posted the letter on X Tuesday, saying “We don’t need a partisan lawsuit. We just need to pass this bipartisan bill.”
Democrats in Congress want the Republican majority to restore subsidies that help Americans afford health insurance as a condition for approving a bill to fund the government.
Beshear on Tuesday said almost 100,000 Kentuckians could see their health insurance premiums jump by a third unless Congress acts.
“For millions of Americans, these subsidies are the only reason health insurance is within reach as the cost of living keeps going up. If these credits aren’t extended, nearly 100,000 Kentuckians with insurance plans through our state marketplace, called kynect, could see up to 37% higher premiums for 2026 coverage,” Beshear said during his Tuesday press conference. “That’s thousands of hard earned dollars leaving the pockets of our families just to afford health insurance coverage, which I believe is a basic human right.”
A family of four purchasing health insurance on kynect and making $130,000 would have to pay $12,000 more next year for coverage, while a 60-year-old couple making $85,000 would pay nearly $24,000 more annually, according to the governor’s office.
‘More people, less food.’
Alexus Richardson, the director of communications for the Louisville-based Dare to Care, said food banks in the state have already struggled this year to meet the needs of many food-insecure Kentuckians. In the Louisville area, about 1 in 7 people need help feeding themselves, she said, an increase from last year, when it was 1 in 8.
“Right now, across Kentuckiana, we’re seeing nearly 200,000 individuals who are experiencing food insecurity, and that is before any pauses to SNAP, any cancellations of paychecks,” Richardson said. “That’s before any of the shutdown things that have happened.”
This is due to several factors, she said, including inflation in food prices and the end of COVID-era assistance.
“At the same time that we are seeing more people, we are also seeing less food,” she said, referring to a decrease in federal food commodities. “We have less food and more people coming to visit us right now, which is scary.”
Many people visiting food banks right now are working families — and many are coming for the first time, Richardson said.
“There is a misconception about who is using SNAP or who is visiting the food bank,” she said. “But these are working families, people who are getting a paycheck and they still can’t afford their most basic need, which is food.”
The Nov. 1 expiration of SNAP benefits will be “catastrophic for food banks” who simply cannot meet the needs on their own, Richardson said.
On Monday, Bluegrass Community & Technical College said there are more students in need of food this year than in the past.
In announcing its Thanksgiving Food Drive, the college said it “has seen a significant increase in student need” already this year and the college food pantry has served 358 students, “a substantial rise compared to this time last year.”
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army launched an emergency food drive on Monday, saying there has been “a dramatic rise in local food-assistance requests — some three to five times higher than usual levels in recent weeks” in the Louisville area.
“With grocery and utility prices continuing to strain family budgets, we’re seeing many of our neighbors turning to us for the first time,” Major Mark Hunter, the area commander of The Salvation Army of Louisville, said in a statement.
Melissa McDonald, the executive director of Feeding Kentucky, said that “thousands of Kentuckians will face heightened hunger at the start of November if SNAP funding is not preserved. Food banks are stretched to their limits.”
“SNAP helps working families stretch their grocery budgets, ensures seniors don’t have to choose between food and medicine, and gives children access to the nutrition they need to grow and learn,” McDonald said in a statement. “Without immediate action, Kentuckians could be left wondering how they’ll put food on the table next week. We urge Congress to work together to fund SNAP for the millions of Americans, and thousands of Kentuckians, who rely on it.”
Dare to Care has not yet had to turn people away, Richardson said, but some shelves are lighter than they’ve been in past years. She said people wanting to help can donate money, food or time.
“Food banks are trusted community partners, and we’ve continued to show up for our neighbors, but right now, it’s going to take more than just food banks and food pantries coming together,” Richardson said. “It’s going to take our entire community gathering to call on our lawmakers to say, ‘open the government so that our families can put food on the table for their children; so that our seniors can have access to the foods that they need to eat.’”
This story may be updated.
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Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.
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