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In response to a federal lawsuit, the Agriculture Department said it would refrain, for now, from demanding that states turn over the personal information of people receiving assistance.
June 3, 2025Updated 4:35 p.m. ET
The Trump administration has backed off a demand that states hand over personal information about food stamp recipients in the face of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of public interest groups.
An Agriculture Department official said in a sworn statement filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia over the weekend that the agency was pausing its plans, announced last month, to create a database of Americans who receive nutrition benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The move was a rare instance of the Trump administration proceeding cautiously amid litigation, relenting for now before potential intervention by a judge.
The Agriculture Department released guidance outlining the federal government’s intentions in May. The document referred to states and territories, which administer the program independently, as “a SNAP information silo” and directed state agencies to begin providing personal data on recipients under an executive order that President Trump signed in March.
The data the department requested from state administrators includes identifying details on recipients including home addresses, federal tax returns and social security numbers.
A group of individuals and nonprofits quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the policy on personal privacy grounds, represented by lawyers from public interest groups including the Protect Democracy Project and the National Student Legal Defense Network.
