By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The government shutdown may be over but that does not mean the fight for SNAP funding is over.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told President Donald Trump during a Dec. 2 cabinet meeting that her department would “begin to stop moving federal funds into those states” that have not complied with the department’s request for data on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The information would include a verification of SNAP eligibility and personal information such as Social Security numbers, the Kentucky Lantern stated.
Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which administered the federal program, stated that 6,145 people in Barren County made use of SNAP benefits each month in 2024, spanning into over 2,775 households with $12 million being spent in Barren County last year.
Rich Crowe, who helps organize the Feeding America food disbursement at Riverlake Church, said they expect to give out roughly 648 boxes of food this month, saying that the amount has increased because of the SNAP benefit cutbacks in conjunction with the holidays.
“Normally we hand out about 450 boxes,” Crowe said. “This past time we handed out about 648 and are looking to do that this time again. People need it.”
Donations at Riverlake Church are given out on the third Tuesday of every month — for December that would mean Dec. 16 — with the drive through beginning at 9 a.m. Anyone who would like to donate or volunteer should contact the church or “show up that day,” Crowe said.
Kentucky is one of 22 states that have not complied, with the others being Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, the Kentucky Lantern stated.
A department spokesperson said they have sent another request for data on Nov. 28 and have asked for a response within seven days, which is Monday, Dec. 8, the lantern stated. A governor’s office spokesperson confirmed this.
“We have sent Democrat States yet another request for data, and if they fail to comply, they will be provided with formal warning that USDA will pull their administrative funds,” the department spokesperson said.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear joined a lawsuit along with 21 attorneys general “challenging the USDA’s demand in July that states provide personal data of those enrolled in SNAP.”
A spokesman from the governor’s office said Beshear “believes that government should be fighting hunger, not causing it, and that the president should stop using the American people as a bargaining tool for his political agenda. Over 600,000 Kentuckians rely on SNAP, along with millions of Americans — none of which should have to worry about their confidential and personal information being shared unlawfully,” the lantern stated.
A 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture report stated that about 26,000 applications — or 0.01 percent of households enrolled in SNAP — were referred for an administrative or criminal review. People in the country illegally have never been authorized to receive SNAP benefits, the Kentucky Lantern stated.
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