Federal government sues Pennsylvania, others over SNAP data

(WHTM) — Pennsylvania is one of four states facing a lawsuit from the federal government over SNAP applicant data.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan, and Minnesota. They are seeking the last five years of SNAP applicant data in the respective states.

The DOJ alleges that the four states refused to turn over data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture “so that USDA could ensure that states are properly administering and enforcing their determinations of residents’ eligibility.”

“The American people deserve a government that is transparent about how it spends their hard-earned tax dollars,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “These four states are thwarting USDA’s efforts to ensure that the billions of dollars in SNAP benefits they distribute every year are not lost to fraud.”

“Stopping the rampant theft of taxpayer money demands a whole-of-government response, including strong participation at the state level,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “These states are happy to take hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars—much of which is exploited by fraudsters—but want zero transparency over how those tax dollars are spent.”

The Department of Justice said 28 states promptly provided data and such indicated “there are billions of dollars per year in SNAP funds going to overpayments and fraud.”

The USDA has been seeking data for the past year or so, leading to a legal battle over concerns about how the data would be used.