WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about those receiving the assistance.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is looming because those states are refusing to provide data the department requested such as the names and immigration status of aid recipients. She said the cooperation is needed to root out fraud in the program. Democratic states have sued to block the requirement, saying they verify eligibility for SNAP beneficiaries and that they never share large swaths of sensitive data on the program with the federal government.
Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, was skeptical about whether funding will really be taken away.
“We no longer take the Trump Administration’s words at face value — we’ll see what they actually do in reality,” she said in a statement. “Cutting programs that feed American children is morally repugnant.”
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia previously sued over the request for information, which was initially made in February. A San Francisco-based federal judge has barred the administration, at least for now, from collecting the information from those states.
The federal government last week sent the states a letter saying that it was time to comply, as other states have, but the parties all agreed to give the states until Dec. 8 to respond.
Administration says data is needed to spot fraud
About 42 million lower-income Americans, or 1 in 8, rely on SNAP to help buy groceries. The average monthly benefit is about $190 per person, or a little over $6 a day.
Rollins has cited information provided by states that have complied, saying it shows that 186,000 deceased people are receiving SNAP benefits and that 500,000 are getting benefits more than once.
“We asked for all the states for the first time to turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them,” Rollins said, “but also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected.”
Her office has not released detailed data, including on how much in benefits obtained by error or fraud are being used.
It's also not clear which states have handed over the information. Rollins said 29 have complied and 21 have not. But 22 have sued to block the order.
Additionally, Kansas, which was not part of the lawsuit, has not provided it. The USDA told the state in September that SNAP funds would be cut off. The state asked the agency to reverse the action. A spokesperson for Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said there had not yet been a reply as of Tuesday. North Carolina appears to be the only state with a Democratic governor that has handed over the information.
Experts say that while there is certainly fraud in a $100 billion-a-year program, the far bigger problems are organized crime efforts to steal the benefit cards or get them in the name of made-up people — not wrongdoing by beneficiaries.
Democratic officials question administration's motives
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Connecticut Democrat who is a co-sponsor of legislation to undo recent SNAP changes, said Rollins is trying to make changes without transparency — or without a role for Congress — and that she is mischaracterizing the program.
“Individuals who are just trying to buy food, those aren’t the ones who are gaming the system in the way that the administration is trying to portray,” Hayes said in an interview on Tuesday before Rollins announced her intention.
Democratic officials responded to Rollins' announcement by blasting the administration.
“The Governor wishes President Trump would be a president for all Americans rather than taking out his political vendettas on the people who need these benefits the most," said Claire Lancaster, a spokesperson for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. "Whether it’s threatening highway funding or food assistance, the President is making malicious decisions that will raise prices and harm families.”
In response to Rollins’ comments, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted, “Genuine question: Why is the Trump Administration so hellbent on people going hungry?”
SNAP has been in the spotlight recently
The program is not normally in the political spotlight, but it has been this year.
As part of Trump's big tax and policy bill earlier in the year, work requirements are expanding to include people between the ages of 55 and 64, homeless people and others.
And amid the recent federal government shutdown, the administration planned not to fund the benefits for November. There was a back-and-forth in the courts about whether they could do so, but then the government reopened and benefits resumed before the final word.
In the meantime, some states scrambled to fund benefits on their own and most increased or accelerated money for food banks.
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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey. Reporters Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed.