U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the Department of Agriculture will halt federal funding to states that decline to provide data needed to investigate fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Rollins detailed the decision during a cabinet meeting of the Trump administration as she reviewed the agency’s recent findings and ongoing efforts to address misuse within the program.

Rollins said that in February the USDA asked all states to “turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out” fraud, but only 29 states complied.

Trump's Sovereign Wealth Fund: What Could It Mean For Your Money?

She noted that the noncompliant states were predominantly blue states.

“The third thing — we have so much great things to talk about at USDA, but the third thing which became very much a part of the national conversation during the Democrat shutdown was SNAP reform, food stamp reform,” Rollins said during the meeting.

“When all of America saw, which so many of us know, and have been working on — but when you have so much rampant fraud in a program that 42 million Americans participate in.”

Rollins said the agency’s review uncovered several categories of misuse.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

She reported that since President Donald Trump took office, 800,000 of the 42 million Americans enrolled in the program have “moved off of food stamps.”

She added that the USDA discovered that 186,000 dead individuals’ Social Security numbers were “being used,” and that 500,000 people were receiving “benefits more than twice.”

“In February of this year, we asked for all the states — for the first time, to turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out this fraud. To make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them,” Rollins said.

“But, also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected. Twenty-nine states said yes, not surprisingly the red states, and that’s where all of that data — that fraud comes from.”

She said 21 states, including California, New York, and Minnesota, declined to share their data.

According to Rollins, “as of next week” the USDA will “stop moving federal funds into those states until they comply.”

NO DATA, NO MONEY — it’s that simple.

If a state won’t share data on criminal use of SNAP benefits, it won’t get a dollar of federal SNAP administrative funding.

Let’s see which states stand for accountability and which are just protecting their bribery schemes. pic.twitter.com/Y1UXXDOoao

— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) December 2, 2025

Rollins discussed the findings further in an interview with Newsmax, where she reiterated the scale of the fraud uncovered through the data provided so far.

She said the USDA found that 186,000 “deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check,” adding that “this is just data from those 29 mostly red states.”

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re gonna find?” Rollins said in the interview.

Secretary @BrookeLRollins drops major BOMBSHELLS about rampant SNAP fraud⤵️ pic.twitter.com/b7Mw15IoSB

— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) November 17, 2025

She pointed to additional irregularities first reported by Breitbart News.

As Rollins continued analyzing information from the 29 cooperating states, she discovered electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards with unusually high balances, including some exceeding $10,000.

Other cards had not been used for several years, and some had reportedly been “issued to people who never existed.”

Rollins said the USDA’s goal is to ensure that individuals in need receive assistance while preventing continued misuse of federal funds.

She emphasized that the cooperation of all states is necessary to complete the agency’s fraud review and carry out reforms intended to protect taxpayers and strengthen program integrity.

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of DrewBerquist.com. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.