Trump’s USDA to Pause Funding for Blue States Over SNAP Data

Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pause federal funding to blue states that refuse to provide the information it requested on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid recipients.

Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump the pause would be in effect as of next week. The fight between the administration and states over personal data goes back months.

“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 these American taxpayers,” Rollins said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture told NOTUS in a statement that states refusing to turn over the data will have another opportunity to do so before losing funding.

“We have sent Democrat States yet another request for data, and if they fail to comply, they will be provided with formal warning that USDA will pull their administrative funds,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier this year, USDA asked all states to turn over their data and allow the agency to review how the program is managed. Rollins said it was an effort aimed at ensuring the food aid only goes to those who need it.

But 21 blue states declined to provide the information, arguing in a court case the administration’s request was unlawful and likely to compromise recipients’ personal data.

Still, nearly 30 states did hand over the information, which included details like Social Security numbers, benefit amounts and home addresses. The administration is now arguing that the data showed rampant fraudulent use of the benefits.

“Twenty-nine states said ‘yes.’ Not surprisingly, the red states, and that’s where all of that data, that fraud comes from. But 21 states, including California, New York and Minnesota — blue states — continue to say ‘no,’” Rollins said.

Rollins acknowledged in her remarks that SNAP funding had become a larger part of the national discourse during the government shutdown, when the aid was interrupted and the fight over contingency funding even reached the Supreme Court. Some states scrambled to cobble together funding for their constituents who rely on the service — nearly 42 million Americans rely on the aid.

Even before the shutdown, Republicans in Washington set in motion major changes to the program that will shrink the number of people eligible and shift more of the administrative burden to states.

Last month, Rollins also created uncertainty around the program when she said that people who receive SNAP would need to “reapply,” though the Agriculture Department later said it would continue to use existing eligibility verification processes, according to Politico.