Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins holds a press conference on the government shutdown with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Friday, October 31, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol.
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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday threatened to cut off federal funding to Democratic-leaning states over their alleged refusal to share SNAP program data with the Trump administration.
Rollins told President Donald Trump during a White House Cabinet meeting that the administration will “begin halting federal funding to these states” starting next week “until they comply.”
Rollins said the department needs state-by-state data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps, “to root out this fraud and protect American taxpayers.”
He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February asked all 50 states “for the first time to submit data to the federal government.”
He said 29 “red states” have complied, but 21 “blue states continue to say no.”
Non-compliant states include California, New York and Minnesota, Rollins said. The governor’s offices did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
A USDA spokesperson later said in a statement to CNBC that “28 states and Guam have joined us in this fight. But of the 19 other blue states, states like California, New York, and Minnesota also continue to fight with us.”
The department has “established a SNAP Integrity Team” to analyze state data and “root out indiscriminate welfare fraud,” a spokesperson said.
“We have sent additional data requests to Democratic states, and if they do not respond, they will be given a formal warning that USDA will withdraw administrative funding.”
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— CNBC’s Mary Catherine Wellons contributed to this report.
