Sponsors
The bill strengthens detection, recovery, and deterrence of SNAP benefit theft and ensures stolen benefits are reimbursed to needy households, but does so by expanding enforcement powers, federal data collection, and administrative processes that raise privacy, cost, and due‑process risks.
Low-income SNAP households will be reimbursed for benefits stolen through no fault of the household and will not have their monthly allotment or ongoing eligibility reduced when reimbursed, restoring food purchasing power.
Low-income households will be able to recover more losses because perpetrators face a penalty equal to twice the value of stolen benefits, creating stronger deterrence and a funding source for recoveries.
SNAP program integrity and multi‑jurisdictional recovery efforts will improve because USDA, law‑enforcement partners, financial institutions, and States get clearer data‑sharing pathways, technical assistance, and a central database to detect and respond to benefit theft.
Low-income SNAP recipients face increased privacy and civil‑liberties risks because expanded OIG subpoena/warrant powers and centralized federal reporting create larger, more accessible federal EBT data holdings.
State governments, EBT processors, and vendors will face increased compliance, administrative, and implementation costs to detect theft, validate claims, report data, and integrate with USDA systems.
Taxpayers and the federal budget may face higher costs if States reimburse stolen benefits from SNAP funds and enforcement activities require funding, potentially diverting resources from other USDA priorities.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Expands USDA OIG authority over SNAP benefit theft, authorizes States to reimburse victims from SNAP funds, and creates a civil penalty equal to twice stolen benefits.
Introduced June 10, 2025 by Zach Nunn · Last progress June 10, 2025
Expands USDA enforcement and victim relief tools for theft of SNAP (food stamp) benefits. It gives the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) broad authority to investigate and coordinate multi-jurisdictional and cyber-enabled SNAP benefit theft, lets States reimburse households for stolen benefits from SNAP funds without reducing their monthly benefit or eligibility, and creates a civil penalty equal to twice the value of benefits stolen to be used to reimburse victims and support investigations. The bill authorizes subpoenas, warrants, civil and criminal referrals, interagency coordination, data access from State EBT processors and vendors, a centralized incident reporting database, technical assistance to States, and rulemaking by the Secretary of Agriculture to implement these changes.