SNAP in Minnesota: Trump admin threatening to withhold federal funds
White House issues new warning over SNAP benefits
President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold federal SNAP funding to those who refuse to comply with federal reporting standards. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni has more.
(FOX 9) - Following a prolonged government shutdown that saw a pause in benefits for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, Trump administration officials have signaled another stoppage for those who live in states who they say have faced fraud – one of which is Minnesota.
Minnesota SNAP benefits
What we know:
During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that federal agencies have begun to withhold funds from states who refuse to provide data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including the name and immigration status of SNAP benefit recipients.
"21 states including California, New York, and Minnesota, blue states continue to say no. As of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states until they comply, and they allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer," Sec. Rollins said during the meeting.
Dig deeper:
The USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) oversees SNAP, which is estimated to provide around 42 million low-income Americans with benefits – often referred to as food stamps – to buy household supplies such as groceries. The payouts equate to a monthly benefit of about $190 per person, to roughly one in eight Americans.
The federal government sends SNAP funds to states, which then disperse the funds on prepaid cards through the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system to applicants based on federal guidelines.
To identify underpayment and overpayment errors, states must review a select number of household case files, which the USDA then conducts a second review of approximately half of the state cases to determine any errors.
The USDA provides for an average overpayment rate of 9.26%, but anything beyond that states are required to pay back – with states being required to immediately pay a full amount determined by the USDA, or settle by investing 50% of the amount in ways to address "the root cause of the errors."
According to federal data, SNAP payouts nearly tripled between 2020 and 2021, jumping from about $725 million to $1.9 billion.
The nearly $2 billion total stayed about the same in 2022, before dropping by about $400 million in 2023.
Minnesota SNAP overpayments
Why you should care:
Federal records show SNAP payouts in Minnesota increased 174% between 2020 and 2021, with payouts increasing from about $725 million in 2020 to nearly $2 billion the following year.
State officials have previously told FOX 9 the state incorrectly reported numbers to the USDA, and it would be working to understand more about how the data was collected.
In a statement, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said: "DCYF has reviewed federal reports submitted to USDA during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Minnesota mistakenly included Pandemic EBT in the FNS-46 submission, which is the basis for the numbers in the SNAP State Activities report. Not only was Pandemic EBT included, it was included on two lines of the report in a way that double counted these expenditures."
In Minnesota, 7.8% of the population participates in the program – a total of 451,966 people as of May 2025.
What's next:
In late November, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined 21 other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop the federal government from cutting off SNAP benefits for what it called "thousands of lawful permanent residents."
"Once again, Donald Trump’s administration is trying to take food from hungry families to punish his political rivals. That’s the only explanation for this behavior that makes any sense, since USDA themselves describes SNAP as having 'one of the most rigorous quality control systems in the federal government," Ellison said in a statement provided to FOX 9. "When the Trump administration illegally demanded SNAP data in July, I filed a lawsuit challenging the demand and won a court order banning USDA from withholding SNAP benefits over states’ refusal to share sensitive personal data with the Trump regime. It’s nothing short of ridiculous that the Trump administration is once again trying to withhold SNAP funding over data sharing after a court clearly barred them from doing so.
"My office and I are exploring all of our options to halt this blatantly unlawful action and ensure hungry families in Minnesota continue to get the food they need."