Agriculture secretary accused of unlawfully refusing to use emergency fund to prevent food stamp disruption – US politics live

Democracy Defenders Fund says Brooke Rollins is legally obliged to use $5bn SNAP contingency fund to continue benefits for 42 million Americans

• Two dozen states sue White House over food stamps suspension amid shutdown

In a letter this morning, James Comer, the House oversight chair, has asked the justice department to investigate whether Joe Biden's aides improperly used an autopen to sign executive actions, claiming the former president's inner circle concealed his cognitive decline while exercising presidential authority without authorization.

While President Biden's deterioration was evident to the American people, and consequently, robust systems should have been put in place to document executive actions reflected the actual will of the president, the President's inner circle took no action to establish such a record," Comer wrote in the letter.