13 U.S. Senators Demand the Trump Administration Cease Efforts To Create Federal SNAP Recipient Database

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2025

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13 U.S. Senators Demand the Trump Administration Cease Efforts To Create Federal SNAP Recipient Database

Washington, D.C. — 13 U.S. Senators are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins and Food and Nutrition Services Administrator James C. Miller to cease their unlawful demand of states to turn over SNAP recipient data to be used in the creation of a national database.

In a joint letter signed by Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), John Fetterman (D-Penn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the Senators said, “we demand that USDA cease the unlawful compiling of sensitive and personally identifying information regarding American families under the guise of ‘defend[ing] against’ unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, waste, or abuse.” 

14 State Attorneys General recently made similar demands.

A lawsuit was filed against the USDA in May following the USDA’s original demands for this data. The lawsuit was filed by Student Defense, Protect Democracy, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on behalf of students, SNAP recipients, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and EPIC. 

There is a hearing scheduled for today, Wednesday, July 23 regarding a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in the case.