Jude Jaffe-Block
Appearances
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
Oh, thank you.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
Yeah, so there are more than 40 million people who get food assistance every month. And the program is known as SNAP. And the data is with the states. That's how it's always been.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
But last week, the department told all states, as well as the companies that process payments, they have to hand over data like names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers of all SNAP participants going back five years to January 2020. which is a lot of people and a lot of sensitive data.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
And our reporting found out that even before this directive came out, the agency's Office of Inspector General was trying to get even more expansive data on SNAP recipients from the country's biggest states, including at least in one state, citizenship status.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
We still don't know how the data could be used. Last week's letter said it was to ensure program integrity and verify the eligibility of benefit recipients. But several news outlets have now reported that the Doge team has been combining various federal databases in an effort to build up a tool to track and arrest immigrants.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
And where this data fits in, you know, it could be another piece of the puzzle as it includes recent addresses. Even though immigrants who are in the country without legal status don't qualify for SNAP benefits, there are people in SNAP's data sets that could be subject to deportation now or in the future or share a household with someone in that situation. For example, if U.S.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
citizen children are eligible for food assistance, their parents can sign them up regardless of the parents' immigration status. You know, we didn't hear back from Doge and the White House on this, though.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
Yeah, there are more than a dozen federal lawsuits at this point that allege Doge staffers have been illegally granted permission to view databases with personal and financial information that the government maintains. You know, multiple federal judges have expressed concern about what information Doge has accessed and why. You know, we spoke with John Davison.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
He's an attorney at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. He had this to say about the latest demand for Snap data.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
His position is that this data request likely violates the Privacy Act, though the USDA told us the request will comply with privacy laws and will follow responsible data handling requirements.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
The states are still trying to figure out how to respond to these requests, and it could wind up like a lot of things these days in the courts. As for what to expect next, we know Republicans in Congress are teeing up a proposal to make deep cuts to SNAP, the food assistance program.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
And we've seen this play out where federal data is used by Doge to make exaggerated allegations of waste and fraud to justify slashing government programs.
Up First from NPR
India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog
Thank you.