Trump Administration Warns 21 Blue States to Comply with SNAP Data Rule or Face Funding Cuts

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{ "title": "Trump Administration Warns 21 Blue States to Comply with SNAP Data Rule or Face Funding Cuts", "article": "The Trump administration has issued a stern warning to 21 Democratic-led states that they risk losing federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they fail to comply with a new directive requiring them to provide detailed data on recipients. The directive, which aims to prevent fraud and ensure accurate verification, has been met with resistance from the 21 states, which have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) arguing that the demand for sensitive data is unlawful and threatens recipient confidentiality. According to Brooke Rollins, the Secretary of the USDA, the department has sent formal requests to the states, which have so far failed to comply. The Trump administration claims that 29 Republican-led states have already complied with the directive. The list of 21 states at risk of losing SNAP funding includes: - California, which has called the demand 'unlawful and privacy-threatening' - Arizona, where the Attorney General has argued that the data demand violates state and federal law - Colorado, where officials argue that the request would improperly expose private recipient information - And 17 other states, including Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin The USDA has maintained that the new directive is necessary to prevent fraud and ensure accurate verification, but the states argue that it would put recipients' personal data at risk. The dispute has sparked a heated debate over the balance between ensuring program integrity and protecting recipients' confidentiality. "