President Donald Trump administration will require millions of low-income people to reapply for food stamps as part of an effort to crack down on "fraud," Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
Rollins told Newsmax last 13 November that she plans to "have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through ... food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it."
She did not provide further information on when or how people would need to reapply.
Her comment comes after funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ran out of federal funding during the government shutdown, leading many conservative pundits and even President Donald Trump to criticize just how much the government spends on food stamps. SNAP, which serves nearly 42 million Americans, cost roughly US$ 100 billion in fiscal year 2024.
SNAP fraud can occur when participants intentionally lie about their qualifications for the program, retailers exchange benefits for cash or criminals skim EBT cards for benefits, per USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. But anti-hunger groups say there’s not nearly as much fraud as the Trump administration alleges and note that SNAP only issues about US$ 6 a day in benefits to the average participant.
State SNAP administrators already require participants to recertify their information as often as every six months, and families that receive benefits are expected to keep their work history, income and other personal information up to date.
USDA did not immediately respond to a request to clarify a timeline for Rollins’ new plan or how it differs from current state-level requirements for participants to reapply for the program.
Rollins has teased an announcement of a new plan to overhaul the program in the coming weeks. She has already directed states to turn in sensitive data on SNAP participants, including their Social Security numbers — though that effort is currently being challenged in court.
The secretary said that 186,000 "deceased men and women and children" are "receiving a check" through SNAP, citing data from 29 states that complied with USDA’s request for information.
Federal officials and GOP lawmakers have been determined to show they’re taking wasteful spending seriously after months of work to reduce spending through DOGE. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July, implemented a $186 billion slash to SNAP spending and included new work requirements and other restrictions on who receives benefits — the biggest overhaul of the food aid program to date.
"People keep talking about SNAP. But SNAP is supposed to be if you’re down and out," Trump said on Fox News. "The number is many times what it should be."
"It really puts the country in jeopardy. People that need it have to get it. I’m all for it," Trump added. "But people who are able-bodied can do a job — they leave their job because they figure they can pick this up, it’s easier. That’s not the purpose of it."