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By Aliss Higham
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ordered the state of Minnesota to recertify all of its SNAP recipients within the next 30 days following a fraud scandal in the state.
The letter, which was posted by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on X on Tuesday, orders Minnesota to take part in a "pilot program" that will require all beneficiaries in certain counties in the North Star State to recertify their eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Newsweek has contacted the USDA and the office of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for comment via email.
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Why It Matters
More than 60 people were convicted over involvement in stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a federally funded nutrition program during the coronavirus pandemic, which has drawn the ire of the Donald Trump administration.
It is also the earliest indication that the USDA is making good on its promise to have all SNAP recipients reapply for their benefits. Rollins recently said the federal agency planned to make all 42 million beneficiaries go through the application process again in an effort to root out alleged fraud in the program.
What To Know
"Amid highly publicized and ongoing fraud affecting federally funded benefits in the State of Minnesota, including the multi-million-dollar Feeding Our Future fraud scheme that exploited the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Child Nutrition Programs, USDA is hereby requiring Minnesota to participate in a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) pilot project," the letter reads.
SNAP fraud can happen when recipients deliberately misrepresent their eligibility, when retailers illegally trade benefits for cash, or when criminals steal benefits by skimming EBT cards, according to the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP recertification is the periodic process where households already receiving food assistance must re-verify their income, household composition, and other eligibility factors to continue getting benefits. All states require beneficiaries to recertify on a periodic basis, with differing rules for each state.
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The letter instructs the state to recertify SNAP recipients in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright counties, ensuring they "meet all eligibility requirements for SNAP, including by "accounting for the income and resources of any excluded household members, conducting in-person interviews, and using federal eligibility tools like the improved, cost-free Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program database,” Rollins wrote.
“Upon review of the information obtained during the recertification process, make determinations as to eligibility of SNAP benefits for each SNAP household in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright counties and unenroll any ineligible households,” she continued.
The state has been given 30 days from receipt of the letter to comply.
The extent as to whether there is notable SNAP fraud in Minnesota is unclear at this time. The letter does not make any direct accusations of fraud in the North Star State.
Following the wider fraud scandal that has recently hit Minnesota, Governor Walz said the state "has been taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters and criminals."
What People Are Saying
Brooke Rollins on X: "@GovTimWalz, there is nothing you can do NOW that changes the fact you stood idly by as criminals stole MILLIONS from the American taxpayer and hungry families. The attached requires you to verify SNAP participants in the next 30 days. Tick. Tock."
Governor Tim Walz in a statement on Tuesday, December 16: "Minnesota is a great place to live. We rank among the top states for quality of life, affordability, safety, retirement-friendliness and job opportunity. We are not a state that chooses to let people go hungry. But we cannot effectively deliver programs and services if they don’t have the backing of the public’s trust. And our state’s generosity has been taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters who’ve put their greed and self-dealing above the needs of children, seniors and people with disabilities.
"Those bad actors and criminals have required us to reframe our mindset. We have turned the dial from prioritizing generous services toward greater skepticism. Any amount of fraud is too much and undermines the very programs that do so much to raise our quality of life."
What Happens Next
Neither Walz nor his office have yet made any public comment on the letter, or confirmed whether or not the state will be adhering with the request.
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