The USDA is threatening to withhold SNAP funding – not the benefit itself, but the administrative funding – from blue states who are refusing to reveal the list of beneficiaries in their state.
The Trump administration wants to root out fraud and abuse from the SNAP system and is demanding to know who is getting the benefit. But the blue states don’t want to comply.
Here’s a good explainer video from a local ABC state in Arizona:
Here’s more from The Hill:
The Trump administration is planning to block Democratic-led states from accessing billions of dollars in federal funding under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they continue refusing to comply with the agency’s demand for data about food stamp recipients, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday.
“As of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states until they comply and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Nearly 42 million people benefited from SNAP each month in fiscal year 2024, most of whom are children, elderly or people with disabilities, according to USDA’s official website.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in July ordered states to share data on its SNAP programs, commonly known as food stamps, including recipients’ names and immigration status. USDA said the initiative was meant to verify eligibility and to detect overpayments and fraud.
Following the demand for information, 22 states and Washington, D.C., sued, arguing that the data request was illegal and that the information gathered would likely be used for an immigration crackdown.
A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction blocking the order in October, but it’s not clear how Rollins’s threat will impact the litigation.
The USDA chief on Tuesday said that 29 “red states” have complied but that 21 states, including California, New York and Minnesota, have refused to provide the data.
“This is truly appalling and cruel,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is once again playing politics with the ability of working parents with children, seniors and people with disabilities to get food.”
The American taxpayer funds SNAP benefits and the federal government has EVERY right to know who is enrolled in the program. These blue states will lose in court, and probably at the Appellate level. I think this is pretty cut and dry.