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BumRushDaShow

(165,728 posts) Wed Jun 18, 2025, 05:14 PM Jun 2025

Democratic lawmakers press USDA for answers on sensitive data collection

Source: NPR

June 18, 2025 11:05 AM ET

Democratic lawmakers expressed "deep concern" about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's intent to collect the personal data of tens of millions of federal food assistance recipients and sent Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins detailed questions about the effort in a letter Wednesday.

NPR reported last month that the USDA was taking the unprecedented step of demanding states turn over sensitive data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients – including their citizenship status, in the case of at least one state. The Trump administration, led by the Department of Government Efficiency team, has been amassing sensitive data on Americans and residents as a way to bolster immigration enforcement efforts and find potential instances of fraud in federal programs.

In a May 6 letter, a USDA adviser told states the department would be collecting the names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses of SNAP recipients and applicants from the past five years from states' third-party electronic benefits transfer (EBT) payment processors. The guidance cited President Trump's March 20 executive order, which calls for the federal government to have "unfettered access" to data from state programs receiving federal funds as part of an effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse.

In their letter, the members of Congress said there are already quality control and anti-fraud measures in place to detect SNAP overpayments that do not require the department collecting such data. "There is simply no reasonable justification for authorizing such a sweeping collection of information, particularly given the cybersecurity and privacy risks," reads the letter signed by 35 Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass. and Rep. Angie Craig D-Minn., who is the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/06/18/nx-s1-5437005/usda-snap-democrats-data

Link to PRESS RELEASE - Trahan, Craig, Brown, Hayes, McGovern Lead 30 House Members Demanding Answers on Trump Administration’s Handling of Americans’ SNAP Data

Link to LETTER (PDF) - https://trahan.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Trahan_Craig_Hayes_Brown_McGovern_USDA_letter_data_FINAL.pdf

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Democratic lawmakers press USDA for answers on sensitive data collection (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Jun 2025 OP

Good! snot Jun 2025 #1

Yes! And I've lost track of all the notices I've gotten about databases being hacked slightlv Jun 2025 #2

snot

(11,505 posts)

1. Good!

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Wed Jun 18, 2025, 05:23 PM

Jun 2025

But excessive, often illegal data collection by multiple agencies has been going on for decades already.

slightlv

(7,438 posts)

2. Yes! And I've lost track of all the notices I've gotten about databases being hacked

Reply to snot (Reply #1)

Wed Jun 18, 2025, 08:31 PM

Jun 2025

which contain my most personal information. Once I was noticed it was my time-in-service records; then a few years later, it was the databases containing the information on Federal Civilian Workers. So, in addition to all the businesses that blew off warnings and demands that they update their security and lost our personal information because we once did business with them.. or did business with some other company that did business with them, they've gathered all data from every military person, past and present, and every civil service worker at least to that date (which was about 5 years ago, I think... time has a strange way of meandering and piling up at my age).

The government... neither repug nor democrat... did ANYTHING to penalize these businesses that held our information in such low regard. In fact, they made deals that kept the information of the hacks from us for as long as they could. And, even after the hack, they still refused to implement security upgrades... it cost "too much money" that they didn't want to spend.

So, why does this news bother me so much? Everything there is to know about me is in some evil doer's computer already, one supposes. But you know, it does still bother me. Because nothing is being done in a concrete way. And in fact, the government now is openly giving our info to any evil doer with the enough money to grease the right palm.

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