Overview
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins demanded states transmit detailed SNAP beneficiary data, including names, Social Security numbers and immigration status, to bolster fraud detection.
- Rollins cited findings from cooperating states of roughly 186,000 deceased individuals listed as beneficiaries and about 500,000 people receiving aid in more than one state.
- A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the USDA from compelling the data transfer or cutting administrative funds for noncompliance.
- Most Republican-led states provided the requested data, while a bloc of Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia refused and filed lawsuits challenging the demand on privacy and legal grounds.
- The threatened cuts apply only to federal administrative funding for state SNAP operations, not direct benefits, though officials and reports warn program administration could be strained if funding is ultimately withheld.