The Trump administration plans to withhold certain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds from nearly two dozen Democratic-led states that have not turned over detailed personal information about program recipients, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Rollins said in the televised meeting that federal money would stop flowing as soon as next week to states that do not comply with the data request. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) later clarified that only funds intended to help cover the program’s administrative costs—normally shared between the USDA and individual states—would be affected. Benefits paid directly to SNAP recipients would not be cut.
According to Rollins, 29 Republican-led states had already submitted the requested data, including recipients’ immigration status and Social Security numbers, while 21 Democratic-led states had not. In a Dec. 3 statement to USA TODAY, the USDA updated those figures, saying 28 states and Guam had provided the data, while 22 Democratic-led states, including California, New York and Minnesota, remained out of compliance.
The USDA says it needs the information to “root out” what Rollins has repeatedly described as widespread “fraud,” though the agency has not provided evidence to support those claims and has declined multiple requests from USA TODAY for additional details.
“So 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 to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Data Demand Previously Halted by Federal Court
The push for sensitive SNAP data, covering a program that supports nearly 42 million Americans, began in February and was quickly challenged in court by 22 states and Washington, D.C. In October, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the administration from collecting the information or cutting off funds from states that do not provide it.
The USDA has until Dec. 15 to appeal the ruling, but the judge has already stated that the injunction will remain in place even if an appeal is filed. The USDA declined to answer questions about whether it plans to appeal or how it will comply with the court order.
The agency also told USA TODAY it created a “SNAP integrity team” to review the data and combat what it calls “indiscriminate welfare fraud.” However, an April 7 report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service characterized SNAP fraud as “rare,” noting that many overpayments are tied to unintentional mistakes rather than deliberate abuse.
“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 agency said in its Dec. 3 statement.
States challenging the demand have raised privacy concerns, arguing in earlier court filings that the administration is attempting “to amass enormous troves of personal and private data … to advance goals that have nothing to do with combating waste, fraud, or abuse in federal benefit programs.”
SNAP Rules and Funding Under Scrutiny
SNAP, the country’s largest nutrition assistance program, became a central point of tension during the 43-day government shutdown, when payments were disrupted in unprecedented ways and multiple court decisions reshaped how benefits were delivered. The spending bill that ended the shutdown on Nov. 12 fully restored USDA funding, including SNAP, after benefits were withheld for the first time in the program’s history in November.
The Trump administration has repeatedly pledged to overhaul SNAP. In November, Rollins said the USDA would require every recipient to “reapply” in order to keep benefits. The agency later told USA TODAY that it would continue using existing “standard recertification processes for households” instead. Under current rules, recipients must periodically recertify their eligibility, and benefits are granted for set periods of time.
Trump’s sweeping tax and spending package, which he nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to cut roughly $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034. The law also tightened eligibility rules by expanding work requirements, including raising the age threshold for mandatory work from 55 to 65, and eliminating certain exemptions previously available to veterans, young adults who recently aged out of foster care, and unhoused people.
States now shoulder up to 15% of benefit costs depending on their payment error rates and are also facing higher administrative expenses—costs that could rise further if the administration follows through on its threat to pull federal support for those refusing to share SNAP recipient data.
