A SNAP and EBT sign is shown in April 2022 in Chicago. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps, provide nutrition benefits to supplement the budgets of disadvantaged families. Electronic Benefits Transfer is the electronic system used to access each recipient's SNAP benefits.
A SNAP and EBT sign is shown in April 2022 in Chicago. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps, provide nutrition benefits to supplement the budgets of disadvantaged families. Electronic Benefits Transfer is the electronic system used to access each recipient's SNAP benefits.
Courtesy photo
A group of West Virginia advocacy and food assistance organizations is calling on Gov. Patrick Morrisey not to comply with a request from the federal government for personal information belonging to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.
The — which include the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the ACLU of West Virginia, Facing Hunger Foodbank and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition — called the request an “outrageous act of federal overreach†without clear parameters for how the federal government intends to use the personal data.
“West Virginia SNAP recipients share their personal information with the state SNAP agency because they trust it will be used only to help them access food assistance,†the letter says. “That trust is grounded in longstanding state and federal laws and standards that strictly limit how this data can be used. Now, the USDA is attempting to bypass those protections — pressuring states to hand over sensitive data for unrelated and undisclosed purposes.â€
Earlier this year, the federal Department of Agriculture SNAP recipients’ sensitive information to comply with an executive from President Donald Trump called “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos.â€
The request included recipients’ names, dates of birth, personal addresses and Social Security numbers along with records to calculate the amount of SNAP benefits they got over time.
“President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds, and SNAP is no exception,†USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins at the time. “For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data. The Department is focused on appropriate and lawful participation in SNAP, and today’s request is one of many steps to ensure SNAP is preserved for only those eligible.â€
The federal agency later broadened the request including recipients’ immigration status and household members. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service said it would use the data to “ensure program integrity,†including verifying recipients’ eligibility and would follow up with states as necessary regarding next steps.
Late last month, a coalition of 21 states and Washington D.C. led by Democrat attorneys general in California and New York over privacy concerns with the data request. They asked a judge to stop the government from making the demand or stop it from withholding funding from states that don’t comply.
In their letter, the West Virginia organizations write that complying with the request would compromise SNAP recipients’ personal data and cause fewer people to feel comfortable participating, undermining Morrisey’s efforts to improve health in the state through his “Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia†plan.
In West Virginia last year, SNAP provided food assistance to 277,400, or one in six people, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It fed more than 41 million Americans that year.
A spokesman for Morrisey did not respond by deadline to a request for comment.
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