USDA chief says ‘everyone’ will have to reapply for SNAP benefits after claiming rampant fraud

The head of the US Department of Agriculture said the Trump administration is planning to have “everyone” receiving SNAP benefits reapply after a probe into a bulk of Republican-led states allegedly found 186,000 cases of fraud.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins alleged that fraud was running rampant around the embattled Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), claiming “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check” in 29 red states alone.

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re going to find?” she asked on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it,” Rollins added. 

The agriculture secretary did not say when or how people would reapply for benefits. The USDA did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

State SNAP administrators already require those receiving benefits to recertify their information as often as six months, with families expected to keep their income and personal information up to date.

Despite the regular recertification process, Rollins alleged that the program was “corrupt,” adding that 120 Americans had been recently arrested for committing SNAP fraud, a reference to last week’s bust in Ohio.

The case was a culmination of 11-months of investigative work into 17,000 illegal transactions that took place using SNAP benefits.

“These are the things that we’re uncovering that, for years, no one has really ever dug into because the feds didn’t have the system in place to do it. But we do now,” Rollins told Newsmax.

“The president has made this a priority,” she added. “We will fix this program.”

Rollin’s crackdown comes after SNAP benefits were thrown into chaos after the Trump administration ordered states not to make full food stamp payments for November as the government shutdown ended.

SNAP serves nearly 42 million Americans, with the benefits costing the federal government roughly $100 billion in 2024, according to the USDA.

Despite the turmoil caused by the shutdown, SNAP recipients are expected to get their full benefits come Monday, Rollins said.