Updated Dec. 2, 2025, 5:48 p.m. ET
- The Trump administration has threatened to halt federal funding for Wisconsin’s FoodShare program.
- Federal officials are seeking personal data on program recipients to investigate potential fraud.
- Governor Tony Evers has refused the data request, citing confidence in the current system.
- Wisconsin’s attorney general has joined a multi-state lawsuit to block the data collection effort.
MADISON – Wisconsin could lose federal funding to administer the nation’s anti-hunger program known as SNAP, the Trump administration signaled Tuesday.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the Trump administration plans to halt funding for states whose governors have not responded to the agency’s request for data on recipients of the program known in Wisconsin as FoodShare.
In 2023, Wisconsin received around $81 million to administer FoodShare-related programs, according to the USDA. The threatened cut doesn’t include benefits for food aid recipients, which total about $110 million per month in Wisconsin.
Federal officials are seeking the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, immigration status and benefit history of the recipients in an effort to root out fraud, Rollins has said.
So far, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has rejected their request, and Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined a multi-state lawsuit to block the data seeking.
The Trump administration is signaling its plans even as a federal judge overseeing the lawsuit has issued an injunction that blocks the administration from taking such action.
“That system is analyzed every single year and we feel confident in it,” Evers said in a recent interview with WISN 12. “They’re looking for ways to get out of doing it, frankly. That is inappropriate.”
“We have people in the state of Wisconsin that need help making sure they’re having nutritious meals. We feel the program right now is working just fine.”
At a Trump administration cabinet meeting, Rollins said the funding will dry up for states that have not turned over the data starting next week.
“We have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states until they comply,” Rollins said, adding the administration wants “to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer.”
In a Nov. 24 letter to Evers, USDA official Patrick Penn again asked Evers to turn over the data or outline why state officials won’t do so. The deadline to do so has been pushed back until Dec. 8, according court records.
Molly Beck can be reached at [email protected].
(This story was updated to include new information.)
