The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) has launched an investigation into California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, after they refused to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
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Those five states have the largest SNAP populations that failed to provide requested data to USDA, according a Subcommittee press release.
“The Trump Administration greatly improved the integrity of SNAP, but cooperation from the states remains vital to ensure that federal funds go only to eligible Americans,” said DOGE Chairman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) “In Fiscal Year 2024, SNAP cost taxpayers $100 billion, despite a payment error rate of nearly 11 percent.”
In May 2025, USDA Secretary Brook Rollins mandated that all states provide comprehensive SNAP recipient data, including names, Social Security numbers, and immigration status, to a new National SNAP Information Database for fraud detection and program integrity. This requirement was issued under President Trump’s Executive Order 14243 in March 2025.
While 29 states and Guam have complied with the data requests, 21 states and the District of Columbia have refused, citing privacy concerns and filing lawsuits to block the mandate.
Burchett sent letters to the governors of California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania requesting information surrounding their refusal to provide the critical data.
A coalition of Democrat attorneys general have argued that the demand violates the Privacy Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act, fearing the data will be used for immigration enforcement rather than just fraud prevention.
The USDA responded by threatening to withhold federal funding from non-compliant states.
An federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction in October 2025 blocking the withholding of funds, although the USDA continues to pressure states.
Earlier this month, USDA Inspector General John Walk issued subpoenas requesting d SNAP participant information to the state agencies that administer federal SNAP funds in California, Illinois, Michigan, and New York.
The purpose of the demand was to evaluate the quality and integrity of the data states use to determine program eligibility and issue benefits.
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“Distributing SNAP food assistance is a shared responsibility between USDA and state agencies who administer benefits to local residents” Walk said. “We have a shared obligation to root out program fraud so that assistance is not stolen and reaches Americans who depend on SNAP.”
In his letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom (D.), Burchett noted that 29 state agencies have already provided the requested data, allowing USDA’s SNAP Program Integrity Data Team to identify at least $3 billion in potential waste, fraud and abuse.
According to their report, “the largest issues by volume were cases with dummy or missing SSNs and intrastate duplication, together representing hundreds of thousands of records. Interstate duplication and deceased individuals appearing as active participants also showed substantial counts.”
“USDA would likely be able to identify billions more in potential fraud if non-complying states, including California, which is among the states with the largest number of SNAP beneficiaries, were to step up and constructively participate in this effort,” Burchett wrote. “Your state’s noncompliance carries a great cost to the American public.”
The subcommittee panel held a hearing Thursday to address the billions of dollars in improper payments and potential fraud in the program and why the scope of the fraud remains difficult to quantify because the Democrat states won’t provide the requested beneficiary and transaction data.
The Republican witnesses were USDA IG John Walk, Director of United Council on Welfare Fraud Dawn Royal, and Advancing American Freedom Senior Research Fellow Rachel Greszler.
Gina Plata-Nino, Director of SNAP Policy and Advocacy at the Food Research and Action Center, was the Minority Witness.
In his opening statement, Chairman Burchett underscored how Americans have lost millions in taxes to fraud within the SNAP program and that roughly $10 billion in benefits were improperly paid out by states. He also noted that the USDA has identified $3 billion in potential fraud and stressed that the refusal of blue states to comply with the department’s request for critical SNAP data has hampered the administration’s efforts to crack down on fraud.
“$10 billion in SNAP benefits were improperly paid out by the States,” Burchett stated. “Federal taxpayers deserve to know what Governor Newsom and his counterparts in other states are trying to hide—and at what cost.”
In one notable exchange with Rep Brandon Gill (R-Texas) highlighting how taxpayer funds are misused, Plata-Nino refused to acknowledge that sugary sodas provide no nutritional benefits and should not be covered by SNAP.
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