USDA says demand for sensitive food stamp data from states is on hold

The Department of Agriculture’s unprecedented demand that states and payment processors turn over sensitive data about people who receive federal food assistance is on hold — for now.

A USDA official said in court filings late Friday the agency has not yet begun collecting the personal data of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, after a coalition of groups filed a lawsuit alleging the directive violated federal privacy laws.

In a letter last month, the department told states they would be required to turn over the data of people who had applied to or received aid from SNAP over the past five years, including their names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses. The letter said states should submit the data through their third-party contractors tasked with processing electronic bank transfers.

The letter cited President Donald Trump’s March 20 executive order, “Stopping Waste, Fraud and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos,” which calls for federal agencies to have “unfettered access” to data from state programs that receive federal funds, including from “third-party databases.”

In recent months, the Department of Government Efficiency effort has amassed and consolidated data across federal agencies to further Trump administration goals, including immigration enforcement.

NPR reporting revealed that before the department’s May letter, USDA’s office of the inspector general had asked four states for SNAP data, and asked at least one state for detailed personal information on everyone who received SNAP over the last year, including citizenship status, according to emails reviewed by NPR. But other data that is typically used to verify financial eligibility for the program wasn’t requested.

Some states, including Iowa and Ohio, recently said they were preparing to comply with the USDA’s request for SNAP data.

A coalition of SNAP recipients and hunger, privacy and student groups sued the USDA in federal court on May 22, arguing the request was unlawful and the agency did not follow the proper procedures for data collection.

But in Friday’s court filings, USDA official Shiela Corley indicated the agency’s data request was temporarily paused.

Corley, who is chief of staff to the deputy undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said the agency “instructed EBT Processors to refrain from sending any data until USDA completed procedural steps to ensure that data received would be appropriately safeguarded and to satisfy all necessary legal requirements.”

It is unclear when the USDA made that communication to payment processors. The department declined to comment on litigation.

An email sent by a payment processor company to its partner states last month had suggested the USDA’s data collection could be imminent.

On May 9, Fidelity Information Services, or FIS, told its state partners that “USDA has made a formal request for records regarding SNAP cardholder and transaction data,” according to an email reviewed by NPR. The email told states to “confirm your written consent” by responding by May 14.

FIS along with other payment processors, Conduent and Solutran, declined to comment for this story.

“Our contractor continues to work on this request and nothing has been submitted,” Alex Murphy, a spokesman for Iowa’s Department of Health and Human Services, wrote to NPR in an email. “We are not aware of any further instructions or a request to pause on sending the data.”

Data collection changes must follow rules

Corley’s declaration also gave new insights into the USDA’s intention to comply with a Privacy Act requirement to file notice and seek public comment on the SNAP data collection.

When federal agencies collect or compile new data sets that include personally identifiable information, they must justify the purpose and give the public notice and an opportunity to weigh in by publishing a Systems of Record Notice, known as a SORN. A USDA spokesperson had previously told NPR the agency’s counsel was considering whether a new notice was necessary for its new SNAP data-sharing guidance.

Corley’s declaration states that the USDA had begun developing a new SORN “prior to the filing of this lawsuit, and it is currently in the final stages of review.”

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit called the USDA’s response a “temporary win,” since USDA has acknowledged in court that federal privacy laws apply to the data collection process and the data remains, for now, with states and their contractors.

“The Trump administration likes to play fast and loose, including with people’s data,” said Madeline Wiseman, an attorney with the National Student Legal Defense Network, which is representing some plaintiffs in the suit.

Wiseman said the USDA’s letter threatened states with a possible loss of funding if they fail to consent to this data turnover — but “when they’re hauled to court, it’s a different story, things are put on pause, things are slowed down.”

She added that USDA has “had to look at this through the lens of the federal privacy laws that it appeared were completely absent from the thought and the consideration that went into the letter.”

The lawsuit will continue. One of the plaintiffs’ arguments is that the USDA’s data request is “arbitrary and capricious” and should be halted completely.

More than 40 million people receive SNAP benefits each month but last month House Republicans passed a reconciliation bill that would make unprecedented cuts to the program.

NPR’s Stephen Fowler contributed to this report.

Have information you want to share about SNAP, DOGE access to government databases and immigration? Reach out to these authors through encrypted communication on Signal. Jude Joffe-Block is at JudeJB.10 and Stephen Fowler is at stphnfwlr.25. Please use a nonwork device.