Vermont Shares Sensitive Data About Food Assistance With Feds

Vermont has turned over sensitive information to the federal government about tens of thousands of people who receive food assistance, a move state officials say was required but others called a breach of trust.

The Vermont Agency of Human Services shared data about more than 64,000 participants in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, after the Trump administration demanded the information by July 30. The program, known locally as 3SquaresVT, provides low-income people money for food each month.

The state complied with the request from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal program, even though 20 other states are suing to block the move.

Vermont Public first reported the story.

Following an executive order, the USDA issued a letter to states in May titled “stopping waste, fraud, and abuse” by eliminating “information silos” in the SNAP program.

It requested the “names, dates of birth, personal addresses used, and Social Security numbers” as well as the total amount of benefits received for all SNAP recipients since 2020.

Attorneys general from states with Democratic governors, including California, Washington and Connecticut, called the demand a violation of privacy and part of a broader effort by the Trump Administration to collect personal data for political purposes, including possible immigration-enforcement efforts.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s administration viewed the move differently.

“The federal government requested information related to the SNAP program, so we as a state complied with the federal law,” Scott’s spokesperson, Amanda Wheeler, said in a statement. “This is information the federal government can already access through the routine auditing process.”

The lawsuit filed by several states calls the SNAP information “highly sensitive” and protected by privacy laws.

Miranda Gray, the deputy commissioner of the Economic Services Division of the Agency of Human Services, did not respond to an interview request. Gray told Vermont Public the state did not share immigration status with the federal government.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, a Democrat, has sued the Trump Administration 26 times to try to prevent the federal government from withholding money for everything from schools to Planned Parenthood.

The 20-state lawsuit was filed in California on July 28, just two days before the July 30 data-sharing deadline, possibly leaving Clark little time to react.

Clark was unavailable for an interview Tuesday, but her chief of staff, Lauren Jandl, issued a statement.

“The approach taken by the Agency of Human Services (AHS) in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s directive prevented the Attorney General from being able to sue,” Jandl wrote.

She referred further questions to “AHS leadership.”

It’s not the first time Clark and the Scott administration have disagreed on how to respond to Trump. Last month Clark was foiled in her effort to unfreeze nearly $17 million in federal funding that had been earmarked for public electric vehicle chargers — in part because the Scott administration disagreed with her decision to sue the federal Highway Administration and didn’t provide evidence of  harm.

Food security advocates said the news would likely make low-income people less likely to sign up for a program that already can be daunting to navigate.

“I think it’s a breach of trust with people who may be concerned about sharing their information with a bureaucratic system that they don’t fully understand,” said Carrie Stahler, the government and public affairs officer with the Vermont Food Bank.

The Food Bank works with more than 300 charitable organizations providing food to those in need, and if fewer people sign up for 3SquaresVT, the whole system will come under even more pressure, she said.

“We need to be doing the opposite of this. We need to be building trust with this system,”  Stahler said. “We need to be making sure that SNAP feels like a safe and effective and efficient and valuable choice for everyone in Vermont who needs some help with food.”