Kansas Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach wants lawmakers to force state agencies to hand over personal information about recipients of food assistance to the Trump administration.
A Kansas Senate committee is considering a bill that would mandate that the Kansas Department for Children and Families, which oversees the state’s food assistance program, comply with the federal government’s request for data including names, social security numbers and addresses.
The effort is another step in the political fight over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s refusal to comply with the request for information about thousands of people who have applied for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The bill aims to end the Kelly administration’s ability to withhold the data despite an ongoing court battle over whether the request is legal.
Kobach told lawmakers Tuesday that the request is meant to allow the government to weed out fraud. Like determining whether recipients of federal food benefits are not eligible for it — including immigrants living in the country without legal permission.
“By doing so, you can determine if somebody's getting it who's not entitled to be getting these benefits,” Kobach said. “Pretty simple request.”
Welfare advocates argue forcing the state to hand over the personal data of recipients would erode trust in the welfare program. Elizabeth Keever, chief resource officer for the food bank Harvesters, said in written testimony that the bill may scare people away from applying for food assistance.
“Kansas cannot afford to lose more people from SNAP participation,” Keever said in her testimony, ”especially at a time when food insecurity remains high and charitable food assistance cannot fill the gap left by reduced access to federal nutrition programs.”
Kelly’s administration has previously said turning over the information would violate recipient privacy. Kansas is one of more than 20 Democratic-led states challenging the federal government’s request in court.
Olivia Taylor-Puckett, a spokesperson for Kelly’s office, told the Kansas News Service that the state has repeatedly raised concerns about the legality of the request, including a provision that would allow sharing the data with foreign governments.
“It is both disappointing and disturbing that the Attorney General still doesn't know the basic issues with the USDA's request,” Taylor-Puckett said.
Kobach also told lawmakers that the state’s unwillingness to provide the data risks the federal government withholding funding for the program.
In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tried to withhold $10.4 million of SNAP funding from Kansas because of the data fight. But the state appealed the decision, temporarily stopping the agency from withholding the funds. Kelly’s office has said Kansas has not lost any funding for the program and it continues to operate as usual.
Kobach said the appeal will eventually fail and the federal government’s penalty for withholding the data will continue to increase $10 million every three months, putting the program in jeopardy.
“There will be a point reached when the money in the state bank won't be enough to recharge the SNAP cards fully,” Kobach said, ”and then needy Kansans are going to have less money available to them to put food on the table.”
Dylan Lysen reports on social services and criminal justice for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at dlysen (at) kcur (dot) org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio.
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