Andrea Joy Campbell: In the Wealthiest Nation on Earth, No One Should Go Hungry
By Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell
When my father came home from prison, my family temporarily relied on food assistance as he worked to get back on his feet. We were grateful for that help, not because we were looking for a handout, but because it meant my brothers and I could eat breakfast before school and not go to bed hungry. It meant my grandmother didn’t have to choose between paying the light bill and putting groceries in the cart. That assistance wasn’t charity; it was stability—a promise that we would not be left out and left behind.
That promise is now being broken. Just a week before families were to receive their November benefits, the Trump administration made an unprecedented decision to suspend food assistance for millions of Americans during a federal government shutdown. That meant more than 42 million people across the country—including more than one million here in Massachusetts—faced the prospect of empty refrigerators and grocery lists they can’t afford to fill. That decision was a betrayal of the promise that our government should stand with people in their hardest moments, not turn its back on them.
That’s why I co-led 26 states in taking the Trump administration to court—and the court rightly ruled that USDA must use its contingency fund to pay for benefits during the shutdown. The judge also made clear that if that fund falls short, the federal government can use other sources to fill the gaps. But instead of doing the right thing, the Trump administration decided to do the bare minimum. It would only partially fund the program, leaving millions of Americans hungry and waiting even longer for relief. We went back to court; and every step of the way the Trump Administration used every legal tool available to deprive people of the money they need to pay for food. Just this week, this meant trying to claw back benefits that a court ordered the federal government to provide.
Let’s be clear about what this would mean. Parents who work full-time jobs but still can’t make ends meet will go to the store and find their benefits card declined. Seniors on fixed incomes will have to choose between buying food or filling their prescriptions. Children will go to school hungry. Veterans and people with disabilities—many of whom rely on this help to survive—will be forced to turn to food banks already stretched to their breaking points.
This is not just a moral failure; it’s an economic one too. When families lose food assistance, grocery stores, local farms, and small businesses lose revenue. Every dollar in SNAP benefits generates about a dollar and a half in economic activity. In Massachusetts, one-fifth of grocery sales come from these purchases, meaning cashiers, truck drivers, and store clerks all feel the hit. Hunger weakens not just families, but entire communities and our economy.
During my recent visit to the Worcester County Food Bank, I saw pallets of canned goods stacked to the ceiling and volunteers doing their best to prepare for a wave of need that should never have existed in the first place. One volunteer told me, “We’ll do what we can, but we can’t replace the federal government.” She’s right. No food pantry in America can fill the gap created when Washington decides to walk away from its most basic responsibility.
We are the wealthiest nation on earth. We have enough resources to send rockets into space, to fund endless tax cuts for the ultra-rich, and to bail out corporations that make record profits. The Trump administration found $40 billion to bail out Argentina’s central bank and more than $300 million to renovate a ballroom at the White House, but somehow, we’re being told that feeding our children, our seniors, and our veterans is just too expensive? There’s always money for the powerful, for the connected, for the one percent. But when it comes to feeding our most vulnerable, suddenly the cupboard is bare.
Never in the history of our country—not during previous shutdowns, not even in times of war—has a president refused to fully fund this program. Not once. Until now.
This is what happens when a government is run by people who see compassion as weakness and cruelty as policy. When those in power cater to billionaires and corporate interests, leaving working families to fight for scraps. When tax breaks for the wealthy are treated as necessities, but putting food in a child’s lunchbox is seen as optional. So it’s up to us to use every tool at our disposal to fight back.
This lawsuit is about whether we believe that every person, no matter their income, their zip code, or the twists and turns of their life, deserves the dignity of a meal. My family once needed that help. Millions of others do, too. And we’re making sure they get it. Because in America—in the wealthiest nation on earth—no one should ever go hungry.
Andrea Joy Campbell is the Attorney General of Massachusetts. Raised in Roxbury and the South End, she is a proud Boston Public Schools graduate and the first Black woman to serve as Attorney General.
