Overview
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department will begin halting federal SNAP administrative payments next week to states that declined to share recipient data requested in February.
- The request seeks detailed identifiers, including names, Social Security numbers and immigration status; about 28–29 states have complied, while roughly 21–22 states and the District of Columbia refused and filed suit.
- A San Francisco federal judge has temporarily barred the USDA from collecting the information from those plaintiff states, casting uncertainty on the planned funding pause.
- USDA officials clarified the action targets state administrative funding rather than individual benefit disbursements, while citing unpublicized figures such as 186,000 deceased enrollees and 500,000 duplicate benefits.
- Democratic leaders condemned the threat and House Agriculture Committee Democrats called it illegal; states were given until around Dec. 8 to respond to a renewed request, and nearly 42 million people use SNAP.