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Attorney General William Tong yesterday asked a court to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from attempting to force states to turn over the personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients while litigation over the legality of the demand continues.
Tong sued over this issue on July 29th along with a multi-state coaltion, out of concern that the data collected would be used for "immigration enforcement" actions.
Last week, Trump’s USDA threatened to cut off administrative funding to the SNAP program if states do not turn over the demanded data.
“Groceries are way too expensive right now, and Trump’s needless tariff wars are only making things worse. This is the worst possible time to yank federal food assistance, and we’re not going to let Trump get away with it,” said Attorney General Tong. “Preventing fraud and abuse does not require Trump to troll through years of grocery lists for hundreds of thousands of Connecticut families. Our laws protect this personal and private information, and Connecticut has no intention of turning this over. We are seeking this court order to block Trump from lawlessly and recklessly defunding our food assistance.”
“President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in May, “and SNAP is no exception. For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data. The Department is focused on appropriate and lawful participation in SNAP, and today’s request is one of many steps to ensure SNAP is preserved for only those eligible.”
Currently, SNAP funding totals over $74 million for Connecticut this fiscal year alone.
In today’s motion for a preliminary injunction, Tong and the coalition urge the court to intervene to "prevent USDA from pressing its unlawful demand for data — and using critical administrative funding as leverage — before the court has a chance to address the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims."
Attorneys General Tong joins the attorneys general of California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Kentucky, in filing the motion.
A copy of the motion can be found here.
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