Lopez

dissenting.

The decision in this case turns on whether or not an ambiguity exists in the statutory scheme. When the individual sections are read one at a time, no ambiguity exists. But if they are read together, the Congressional command is ambiguous.

Section 2020(e)(ll) directs the “prompt restoration” of “any allotment” wrongfully withheld. Section 2022(b)(2)(A) orders the State agency to “collect any claim arising from an overissuance.” Claims arising from household error may be collected from monthly allotments, while those arising from agency error may not be, but the agency may use “other means of collection” as to those claims, under Section 2022(b)(2)(B).

In the absence of Section 2022(b)(2), the offset employed here would clearly be improper. In the absence of Section 2020(e)(ll), the offset would just as clearly be proper. Both statutes deal with over-issuances and the combination of the two creates an ambiguity in the power of state agencies to collect over-issuances. The majority’s review of the two provisions independently of each other runs afoul of the basic rule of statutory construction that each section of a statute is to be “construed in connection with every…

Isabel Lopez, on behalf of herselí and all others similarly situated, seeks to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture and the Director of the California Department of Social Services from offsetting past erroneous underissuances and overissuances in food stamp allotments against one another when calculating the amount that the state agency must restore to the recipient. The district court denied her petition. Because this poli *1097 cy contradicts the plain language of the Food Stamp Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2032 , we reverse.

BACKGROUND

The Food Stamp Program was enacted in 1964 to “alleviate hunger and malnutrition” among America’s poor. 7 U.S.C. § 2011 . The Program is administered nationally by the United States Secretary of Agriculture, who is responsible for issuing regulations consistent with the Act. 7 U.S.C. § 2013 (a). States that participate in the Food Stamp Program designate a state agency that is responsible for administering the program on the state level. 7 U.S.C. § 2012 (n). The state agency must administer the program in compliance with the Act and its implementing regulations. 7 U.S.C. §§ 2020 (e)(5) and (6). While the federal government bears responsibility for…