The Trump administration says it will withhold SNAP from Democratic-led states if they do not provide recipient data

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about those receiving the aid.

Read more: “You can’t raise $8 billion.” Here’s what to know about SNAP benefits interruption

Agriculture Secretary Brock Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the measure looms because those states refuse to provide data requested by the department, such as the names and immigration status of aid recipients. She said cooperation is necessary to eliminate fraud in the program. Democratic states have sued to block the requirement, saying they verify the eligibility of SNAP recipients and that they never share large troves of sensitive data about the program with the federal government.

Marissa Saldívar, a spokeswoman for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, was skeptical about whether the funding would actually be withdrawn.

“We no longer take the Trump administration’s words seriously — we will see what they actually do on the ground,” she said in a statement. “Cutting programs that feed American children is morally repugnant.”

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have previously sued over the access to information request, which was initially filed in February. A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the administration, at least for now, from collecting information from those states.

The federal government last week sent a letter to the states saying it was time to comply, as did other states, but the parties all agreed to give the states until December 8 to respond.

The administration says the data is necessary to detect fraud

About 42 million low-income Americans, or 1 in 8, rely on SNAP for help with grocery shopping. The average monthly benefit is about $190 per person, or just over $6 per day.

Rollins cited information provided by states that complied, saying it showed 186,000 deceased people receiving SNAP benefits and 500,000 receiving benefits more than once.

“We have asked all states for the first time to turn over their data to the federal government to allow our USDA partner to eliminate this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps get them, but also to ensure that American taxpayers are protected,” Rollins said.

Her office did not publish detailed data, including the amount of benefits obtained by mistake or fraud.

It is also not clear which countries handed over the information. Rollins said 29 complied and 21 did not. But 22 filed a lawsuit to block the order.

Additionally, the state of Kansas, which was not part of the lawsuit, did not provide this information. The USDA told the state in September that SNAP funds would be cut. The state asked the agency to reverse the action. A spokesman for Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said there had been no response as of Tuesday. North Carolina appears to be the only state with a Democratic governor who has turned over the information.

While fraud certainly exists in the $100 billion-a-year program, the far bigger problems are organized crime efforts to steal benefit cards or obtain them in the names of made-up people, not wrongdoing by recipients, experts say.

Democratic officials question the administration’s motives

U.S. Rep. Jahanna Hayes, a Democrat from Connecticut who co-sponsored legislation to undo recent changes to SNAP, said Rollins is trying to make changes without transparency — or without a role for Congress — and that she is mischaracterizing the program.

“Individuals who are just trying to buy food are not the ones gaming the system in the way the administration is trying to portray it,” Hayes said in an interview Tuesday before Rollins announced her intention.

He watches: How SNAP cuts affect local food banks

Democratic officials responded to Rollins’ announcement by attacking the administration.

“The governor wishes President Trump could be a president for all Americans instead of taking his political vendetta out on the people who need these benefits most,” said Claire Lancaster, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. “Whether it’s threatening highway funding or food aid, the president is making malicious decisions that will raise prices and hurt families.”

In response to Rollins’ comments, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted: “Real question: Why is the Trump administration so concerned about people being hungry?”

SNAP has been in the spotlight lately

The program is not usually in the political spotlight, but it was this year.

As part of a major tax and policy bill Trump introduced earlier this year, work requirements expand to include people ages 55 to 64, the homeless and others.

Amid the recent federal government shutdown, the administration planned to defund benefits for November. There was debate in the courts over whether they could do this, but then the government reopened and benefits resumed before the final word.

Meanwhile, some states scrambled to fund benefits themselves, and most increased or accelerated funds for food banks.

Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey. Reporters Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Michael Hale in Albany, New York; Steve Karnovsky in Minneapolis; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed.