HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday, saying the agency, under President Donald Trump, had illegally cut off funding to it through a program designed to distribute more than $1 billion in aid to states to purchase food from farms for schools, child care centers, and food banks.
The lawsuit in federal court, announced by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, comes three months after the USDA advised states that it was ending the pandemic-era assistance program because it no longer reflected agency priorities.
“I don’t get what the hell their priorities are if not feeding people and taking care of our farmers,” Shapiro said at a news conference at a food bank warehouse in Philadelphia.
The USDA declined comment Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, asks the court to reverse the USDA’s decision to end the reimbursement program.
Shapiro’s administration, in the lawsuit, said the USDA’s termination of the contract was illegal, saying the USDA didn’t explain why it no longer reflected agency priorities and that the contract didn’t expressly allow the USDA to terminate it for those reasons.
Shapiro said he was confident that Pennsylvania would win the lawsuit.
“A deal is a deal,” Shapiro told the news conference. “They made a deal with our farmers … they made a deal with Pennsylvania and they illegally broke it.”
The loss to Pennsylvania is $13 million under a three-year contract, money that the state planned to use to buy food from farms to stock food banks. States also use the money to buy food from farms for school nutrition programs and child care centers. Purchases include commodities such as cheese, eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables.
The department, under then-President Joe Biden, announced a second round of funding through the program last year.
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