Just weeks after the U.S. Government ended its 43 day shutdown, which ceased the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to millions of low-income households, the Trump administration is now threatening withholding funds to Democratic-led states.
Tuesday, Dec. 2, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced during a Cabinet meeting that the Department of Agriculture could begin blocking funds as early as next week if states reject federal requests for Snap recipient data, which includes information regarding immigration status and social security numbers.
According to reporting released by the Guardian, a USDA spokesperson said that department has established a SNAP integrity team, “to analyze not only data provided by states, but to scrub all available information to end indiscriminate welfare fraud.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Rollins named the the 28 states that handed over the requested data, but did not mention the 19 Democratic states that reportedly have not. Massachusetts was one of the states not mentioned.
According to a press release from the Healey administration sent to YourArlington, the state has not received notice from the federal government about withheld funds.
“This is truly appalling and cruel,” said Governor Healey. “The Trump Administration is once again playing politics with the ability of working parents with children, seniors and people with disabilities to get food. President Trump needs to order Secretary Rollins to release SNAP funding immediately and prevent more Americans from going hungry.”
In Arlington, more than 2,300 residents rely on SNAP benefits to feed their households. When families did not receive funding for food in November, the community came together to fight hunger in Arlington.
“The community was incredibly generous, both in terms of financial support and food support,” said Andi Doane, Executive Director of ArlingtonEATS. “The community donated over 16,000 pounds of food during the month of November. This compares to 5,000 pounds, which is what we receive in a typical month. People really stepped up for their neighbors.”
According to Doane, the ArlingtonEATS pantry saw a 20 percent increase in its average number of households served, bringing food to roughly 610 households in the first week of November.
“With additional cuts to SNAP eligibility and Medicaid, we know that demand for EATS’ services will continue to remain elevated for months and even years to come,” Doane said.
YourArlington will continue to report on this matter.
