WASHINGTON ― Democratic states that don’t hand over personal data on food aid recipients will lose administrative funding, the Trump administration said Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has demanded states provide personally identifying information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries, such as names and Social Security numbers, in an effort to purge allegedly fraudulent recipients.
A federal court granted Democratic states’ request for an injunction blocking the demand in October, but USDA head Brooke Rollins said Tuesday noncompliant states would face consequences anyway.
“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” in the antifraud effort, Rollins said at the White House.
A spokesperson for the USDA said Rollins meant the USDA would withhold administrative funds, not money for food benefits themselves.
