Vance Questions Minnesota SNAP Fraud Rate as Democrats Cite Federal Court Win Blocking USDA Data Demands

Vice President JD Vance questioned Rep. 6%. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins responded that federal officials must rely on Minnesota’s figures because the state will not share food stamp data with the USDA or permit scrutiny of those numbers.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee released an internal poll it said Rep. Craig’s Senate campaign commissioned. The poll found that fraud ranks as the top concern among general election voters and that a negative message linking Lt.

Gov. Peggy Flanagan to fraud would move the race to a toss-up. NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said the findings show that over $9 billion in fraud under prior leadership puts the seat in play.

Rep. Craig is challenging Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have requested Minnesota’s SNAP verification and enrollment data.

The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, which oversees the program, has not used a new state law allowing agencies to withhold payments from suspected fraudsters. A federal watchdog has noted that Minnesota’s SNAP system lacks modern anti-fraud tools such as microchips. Sen.

5 billion in 2023 and asked what internal procedures exist to flag such increases. In April, House Republicans pressed the state to cooperate after USDA and other federal agents executed criminal search warrants at nearly two dozen suspected SNAP trafficking locations in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota sued the federal government, arguing that requests to recertify thousands of households through in-person interviews are unreasonable.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the USDA lacks authority for the demands and accused the Trump administration of threatening to let the needy go hungry. A federal judge ruled in favor of Ellison in January. Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee posted on X that a judge had already ruled the USDA had no legal right to demand Social Security numbers and home addresses of tens of millions of Americans.

The $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme involved federal child nutrition programs, and several people charged were from Rep. Craig’s district. Federal prosecutors stated in May that Medicaid fraud in Minnesota alone likely costs taxpayers $9 billion and that Feeding Our Future represents only a small fraction of ongoing fraud in the state.