The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it gave Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington Township a “formal warning” to provide personal data, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, about those who receive food assistance through SNAP, according to WESA, a Pittsburgh-based NPR news station. 

WESA said it obtained an August letter from the USDA through a federal records request. The letter reportedly said the federal agency would “disallow up to $115,304,035.91… for each quarter in which [the] Department of Human Services is out of compliance” if Pennsylvania officials did not submit enrollment data or provide an acceptable alternative by Friday, September 19.

The Shapiro administration deferred comment to the Department of Human Services (DHS), where a spokesperson said the department “has been in touch with the USDA regarding its request for states to provide SNAP data by this Friday,” according to a statement.

The USDA, which manages the SNAP program, said it wants more information about beneficiaries to stop “waste, fraud and abuse.” According to WESA, the agency first sought identifying information in May, but the DHS resisted the demands, saying that out of 1.9 million people receiving SNAP benefits, 55 applicants were disqualified for fraud or parole violations between January and May.

In August, state officials announced that SNAP would see qualification changes beginning September 1. Among the changes, many adults aged 18–64 now need to prove they work 20 hours a week to keep their benefits. If you cannot prove you are working 20 hours a week, you can only get SNAP for three months every three years.

Some exemptions will end on October 31, including for veterans, the homeless and former foster children under 25. Starting November 1, people between 55 and 64 years old, and parents with children aged 14 or older, will also need to meet work requirements.

Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh, a resident of Springfield Township, previously criticized the new requirements in a statement.

“Programs like SNAP exist to help people meet the basic need of putting food on their tables so that they can live and thrive,” she said. “These new requirements put in place by Republicans in Washington, D.C., jeopardize this critical resource by creating burdensome red tape for people needing food.”

Pennsylvania currently shares SNAP data with the feds through an interstate data-matching system used to prevent people from receiving benefits in more than one state, WESA said. 

Of the close to two million Pennsylvanians who receive SNAP, about 800,000 are between ages 18–64, according to DHS. Last year, 43% of that group (approximately 350,000 individuals) earned wages while receiving SNAP, according to state statistics.

A new website, dhs.pa.gov/work, went live in early September to help Pennsylvanians who collect SNAP benefits navigate new work requirements.