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'New Sheriff in Town': USDA Secretary Rollins To Reform SNAP Program

Scott McClallen
Scott McClallen  |  November 02, 2025 1:00 PM

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that her agency has found massive fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It must be reformed, she added. 

When President Donald Trump’s administration asked states for food stamp data to eradicate fraud, waste, and abuse, many states sued, Townhall reported. 

Trump’s Executive Order 14243, “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos,” aims to eradicate fraud, waste, and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which feeds about 41 million people. 

A May 6 USDA directive requires states to provide the names and Social Security Numbers of food stamp beneficiaries. 

Also in May, the federal government shuttered a $66 million SNAP scheme in New York, in which a federal employee helped loot public benefits meant for hungry, vulnerable people. 

Rollins said that the program gives food benefits to illegal aliens, and others abuse the system meant to feed hungry, low-income families. 

“The Democrat Party has turned its back on working Americans and built its entire strategy around protecting illegal aliens. They know if the handouts stop, those illegals will go back home, and Democrats will lose 20+ seats after the next census," Rollins said. "There’s a new sheriff in town. @POTUS will not tolerate waste, fraud, or abuse while hardworking Americans go hungry.”

There are many ways to abuse the SNAP program. 

Recipients can sell benefits, sell the things they buy with SNAP or not report income. Criminals can install fake card readers in public places such as grocery stores, gas stations, and liquor stores that copy electronic benefit transfer card data and deplete it. 

In June 2024, the USDA reported that about 11.7% or about $10.5 billion in SNAP benefits paid in fiscal year 2023 were improper. 

Criminals have targeted SNAP benefits in every state, according to a federal dashboard. Across 53 states, the federal government said that states approved over 691,000 stolen benefits claims with a total value of $322 million.


Multiple states have or are switching from a vulnerable card with a magnetic strip to a chipped card with similar security that private banks use in debit and credit cards, according to the USDA. 

Alabama, California, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Maryland, and Michigan are switching to chipped SNAP cards. However, the impact will reach 23 other bordering states that aren't currently using chipped cards, but SNAP retailers located in these states must be prepared to accept out-of-state EBT chip cards.

The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, and SNAP benefits are paused. A judge ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP using contingency funds, but one lawmaker says that isn't legal. 

Democrat lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have voted 13 times not to reopen the federal government. Republicans have blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, for the shutdown.