Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined two multistate lawsuits, including one challenging the USDA’s demand that states provide information about food stamp recipients or risk losing federal funding.
The other lawsuit seeks to block a provision in Republicans’ reconciliation law to cut off Medicaid reimbursement for Planned Parenthood services. Kaul has joined 28 lawsuits against the Trump administration.
The first lawsuit comes as the Trump administration works to crack down on alleged overpayments and fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin. The program provides financial assistance for food to low-income Americans.
“Sensitive information about people shouldn’t be turned over to the federal government simply because they applied for or received assistance through SNAP,” Kaul said in a statement. “It’s troubling that the federal government is working to compile this kind of information.”
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The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in California, seeks to block USDA from seeking information about recipients from states, saying the demand “flies in the face of privacy and security protections in federal and state law.”
The lawsuit says the information USDA is seeking from states includes “highly sensitive” personal information about millions of recipients, such as their home addresses, Social Security numbers, recent locations, citizenship and immigration status.
Some noncitizens who are in the country legally are eligible for SNAP. Those in the country illegally aren’t eligible for SNAP benefits, but they may have children who are citizens and could be eligible for the program.
The complaint notes states use a federal database to verify the immigration status of people who apply for federal benefits, including SNAP.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement to WisPolitics said in November, Wisconsinites “voted to restore common sense across the federal government – including within SNAP.”
“By law, SNAP benefits exist for the most vulnerable American citizens, and the Trump Administration is committed to ensuring the American taxpayer no longer subsidizes anyone ineligible for the program, including illegal aliens. Josh Kaul should spend more time stopping crime, which is his job, and less time trying to help criminals at the expense of American citizens,” Kelly said.
The second lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. It comes after Planned Parenthood was issued an injunction in its lawsuit over Medicaid reimbursement, pausing the restriction, which the organization says would lead to staff layoffs and health center closures.
“This horrendous policy is not only an attack on Planned Parenthood. It’s also an attack on access to health care,” Kaul said. “This reckless policy should be struck down.”
Planned Parenthood offers abortions, as well as testing for sexually transmitted diseases, cancer screenings, birth control, emergency contraception and vaccinations. Kaul’s release notes Planned Parenthood serves more than 47,000 patients annually at 20 health centers in Wisconsin.
The complaint alleges the reconciliation law intended to “target and punish” the nonprofit for advocating for abortion access, and will have “devastating impacts.”
