(FIle Photo of the Department of Justice Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington D.C.) The Department of Justice (DOJ) has now filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan and Minnesota accusing the states of refusing to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture with data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants. The DOJ states that the data was collected to ensure states properly enforced “their determinations of residents’ eligibility for SNAP, including household benefit levels.” The agency alleges that the USDA requested the last five years of SNAP applicant data from several states last year. After dozens complied, federal officials claimed that the USDA requested the data again from the four states in May of 2026. The DOJ is now seeking an injunction requiring the four states to turn over the data, claiming that failure to comply “creates the likelihood of ongoing, material waste, fraud, and abuse going undetected.”