President Donald Trump’s administration warned on Tuesday that it will withhold money for administering SNAP food aid in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about people receiving the assistance.
Those states include Michigan, which is one of more than 20 states suing the federal government over the threat to withhold the funds.
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 program data with the federal government.
States and the federal government split the cost of running SNAP, with the federal government paying the full cost of benefits. After Rollins’ remarks, a USDA spokesperson later explained that the agency is targeting the administrative funds — not the benefits people receive.
About 42 million low-income Americans, including 1.4 million in Michigan, receive SNAP benefits to help cover the cost of groceries.
The Trump administration requested states provide the recipient records in February. Michigan is among a group of more than 20 states in a lawsuit against Trump over the data request. Nessel said providing the requested information would "threaten the privacy of millions of families, and ignore long-standing restrictions on the use and redisclosure of SNAP data."
"This is yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to illegally use personal, sensitive data to fuel the president’s political agenda under the guise of fighting fraud and abuse,” Nessel said.
Neither the state health department nor the governor's office immediately responded to questions about how withheld funds could affect Michigan's SNAP recipients.
In a separate lawsuit, Nessel joined 21 other states to sue the Trump administration over eligibility requirements for SNAP. In new guidance, eligibility is narrowed to groups like refugees, asylum recipients and other non-citizen groups. The lawsuit says that the administration's new guidance could incorrectly consider lawful permanent residents as ineligible for SNAP benefits.
