KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Roughly $10.4 million worth of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding in Kansas is caught in a political battle that stretches across the country.
Earlier this year, the United States Department of Agriculture asked state SNAP directors for data for any individual who has received, is receiving or has applied to receive SNAP benefits starting Jan. 1, 2020, through the present.
The USDA asked for household group names, dates of birth, social security numbers, residential and mailing addresses used or provided, and “all data records used to determine eligibility or ineligibility.”
The USDA set a deadline of Wednesday, July 30, 2025, for states to comply with the request.
Just days before the deadline, 20 states filed a federal lawsuit in California, saying the data requested, including immigration status, could be used to aid mass deportations.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and her administration are among those who did not initially comply with the USDA.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit on Sept. 8, claiming Kelly was violating federal law by withholding the data.
Holdout states had until Sept. 19 to respond to the USDA’s data request, or they would face the loss of funding.
Last Thursday, with one day remaining before the deadline, U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney issued a temporary restraining order against the USDA’s data collection and set a hearing in October to determine if a longer order was warranted.
The Associated Press reported Chesney found that “states were likely to succeed in their argument that the personal data can only be used for things like administering the food assistance program, and that it generally can’t be shared with other entities."
On Friday, Kansas officials filed a “correction plan” with the USDA on the SNAP data dispute.
A spokesperson for Gov. Kelly’s office said the state received notice on Friday that the USDA would not accept the state’s correction plan.
The USDA went ahead and paused the $10.4 million in SNAP funding to Kansas on Saturday.
“We will, of course, appeal the decision and continue to protect the security of Kansans’ private data,” Will Lawrence, the governor’s chief of staff, said in an e-mail to KSHB 41 Monday afternoon. “The filing of an appeal will automatically stay the disallowance of funds, meaning the SNAP program will continue to operate normally as the appeals process unfolds.”
On Saturday, the USDA announced it was terminating the Household Food Insecurity report, calling the reports “redundant, costly, politicized and extraneous studies [that] do nothing more than fear monger.”
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