SNAP is going through its worst moment, yes, that social benefit that helps 42 million families across the United States have decent access to food. Now it no longer seems like a social benefit, it is a political battle and unfortunately, the ones who will lose are not them, but the families who depend on these food checks…
Donald Trump’s administration has threatened to change (and completely stop) the administrative funds of the program if the states do not hand over extremely sensitive data of the beneficiaries (including immigration status and Social Security numbers).
Payments to beneficiaries are not in direct risk for now, but all the machinery that makes SNAP work is… If that management is paralyzed, any application could become a bureaucratic nightmare… More than 40 million families.
What is happening?
The USDA and Brooke Rollins (the Secretary of Agriculture) have explained that, for now, they are only considering blocking the administrative funds… But of course, without those funds, processes as basic as recertifications, new applications or user services could slow down to the point of collapsing….
Basically, the government wants to access, as we told you before, sensitive data of many of the program’s beneficiaries… As if hunger understood regularities.
Governor Kathy Hochul is quite angry about this issue and does not understand why the Trump Administration is so determined to make people go hungry. It is quite a strong accusation… That is the level of tension right now.
Why did all this start?
We already explained it before, there is a federal requirement to access highly personal information of SNAP beneficiaries… They want to know basic data: immigration status.
Twenty two states, including New York, said a resounding “no” to the Trump Administration, also arguing that there is no justification for requesting that information (even more so when we are seeing ICE raids almost every week…). They also claim that there is no fraud with SNAP, and that all beneficiaries should not pay for a few mistakes…
So the summary for the states is that this request has nothing to do with improving the program, but with covert immigration control…
To the courts…
A federal judge in California temporarily blocked the USDA order, which means that, for now, the states are not required to hand over that data or face sanctions. For now, the USDA has until December 15 to appeal the decision although the judge has already stated that they are not going to suspend the judicial mandate in case of appeal.
But the USDA is not going to stop and they have reported that there is a “SNAP integrity team” because they still believe that there is “indiscriminate fraud in social assistance”…
Will millions of people have to reapply?
For now, a massive reapplication is not expected, because that would mean that millions of families would have to live with uncertainty for several months while confirming their eligibility…
Of course, what scares people is losing the benefit during those months, because hunger does not understand bureaucracy and it is something our leaders should already be clear about…
Other SNAP changes
186 billion dollars have been cut until 2034 under the “Big Beautiful Bill”… And several rules have changed regarding program eligibility:
- Adults from 18 to 64 must work at least 20 hours a week (or actively look for work)
- Parents are only exempt if their youngest child is under 14 years old
- Exemptions for veterans, homeless people and young people who were in foster care are eliminated
New York sues the federal government
Attorney General Letitia James led a lawsuit along with 21 other states to prevent the Trump Administration from “illegally” cutting SNAP benefits for millions of lawful permanent residents. Of course, as you can see, SNAP has gone from being an administrative fight (which it should never have been) to being an ideological fight.