EUGENE — Oregon state leadership joined 16 states in a lawsuit to stop a United States Department of Agriculture rule that would limit states’ ability to extend food stamp benefits in places where jobs are scarce, a rule would eliminate food assistance for nearly 700,000 Americans.
The coalition of state attorney generals is urging the court to declare the rule unlawful and issue an injunction to prevent it from going into effect on April 1.
“The food stamp program has helped vulnerable Oregonians for over 40 years. It is hard to fathom why the federal government wants to punish thousands of adults in some of the most employment-impacted areas of our state — people who may not be able to find job — by taking away their access to food,” Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a news release.
While the federal government pays the full cost of SNAP benefits, it splits the costs of administering the program with the states, which operate the program. Congress amended SNAP in 1996 to introduce a three-month time limit on SNAP benefits for unemployed people from the age of 18 to 49 who are not disabled or raising children. The law allows a waiver of the three-month limit when areas demonstrably lack sufficient jobs.