Pennsylvania is suing the USDA over cutting funding to a $1 billion food aid program for states

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 effort designed to distribute more than billion in aid to states to purchase food from farms for schools child care centers and food banks The lawsuit in federal court disclosed by Gov Josh Shapiro a Democrat comes three months after the USDA advised states that it was ending the pandemic-era assistance project 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 mentioned 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 project Shapiro s administration in the lawsuit declared 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 declared he was confident that Pennsylvania would win the lawsuit A deal is a deal Shapiro communicated 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 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 publicized a second round of funding through the campaign last year Follow Marc Levy on X at https x com timelywriter Source