The U.S. Department of Agriculture must take immediate action to safeguard the benefit cards that are robbing low-income families of their grocery dollars, six Democratic senators urged in a letter.
Data since last fiscal year shows that the federal government has returned more than $150 million in stolen benefits to participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
But the actual amount taken from needy households is most likely much higher than that, the senators wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, adding that a proposed rule the Department of Agriculture has yet to release on modernizing the cards would prevent the thefts. proliferating.
“The USDA must act urgently to require that state-issued benefit cards are protected by industry-standard payment security measures,” reads the letter, which was sent Monday evening and first shared with NBC News. It was signed by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
SNAP is a far-reaching public benefit program that helps more than 42 million people nationwide buy fruits, vegetables and other groceries, according to the Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP. The program, formerly called food stamps, provides participants with electronic benefit transfer cards with magnetic stripes that are swiped at card-reading machines.
But unlike consumer credit and debit cards, SNAP EBT cards lack security features such as microchips or tap-to-pay technology. That makes them particularly vulnerable to “skimming” – a form of electronic theft that occurs when criminals hide devices in payment terminals and clone card information, including users’ PINs. (See an image of skimming overlays here.) The thieves then copy the information onto fake cards, which they use to drain SNAP participants’ benefits.
“It is unacceptable that hackers and scammers are stealing food benefits that low-income families depend on to put food on the table,” Wyden said in a statement to NBC News. “Our government cannot wait to demand protection from thieves who take away benefits from families and leave them without money to pay for groceries.”
No states yet offer EBT cards with microchip protection, and only a small number have a timetable for transitioning to chip-enabled cards. California, which will begin its rollout in early 2025, is the furthest along, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson said. Alabama and Oklahoma will transition to chip cards next summer, although Alabama could implement them as soon as this spring, according to spokespeople for the agencies that administer SNAP in those states.
Advocates say it is imperative that the Department of Agriculture require safer cards across the country as soon as possible.
“The affected households are victims of crime,” said Betsy Gwin, a senior economic justice attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a nonprofit poverty law and policy center.
“It continues to be extremely heartbreaking to hear from families who are doing what they can to protect themselves, yet remain at risk and end up at the supermarket checkout with a cart full of groceries only to find out their benefits for that month have been stolen and they do not have the ability to feed their families,” she said.
The senators’ letter called on the Department of Agriculture to “expeditiously finalize the proposed rule for EBT card security measures,” which it was required to work on under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
“While private sector innovation and certain states’ leadership in this area are commendable, the urgency of this issue requires a concerted federal effort,” the senators wrote.
Vilsack last month encouraged all governors to adopt new EBT standards for cardholders in their states. In a statement to NBC News before receiving the letter, the Department of Agriculture said rulemaking regarding EBT card security measures “is ongoing and expected in calendar year 2025.”
“Our current regulations do not prohibit states from moving forward with implementing chip cards before these regulations occur,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Refunds at risk
The senators’ letter comes at a crucial time: just days before the policy that has allowed states to use federal funds to reimburse SNAP participants for some stolen benefits expires.
Only a handful of states are reinstating meager SNAP dollars using state funds, and unless Congress takes swift action, federal funds will no longer have the authority to reimburse those who fell victim to EBT theft after Friday — which means that most who are robbed of their grocery dollars will no longer receive any money. them back.
Those fighting food insecurity have called on Congress to expand federal SNAP replacement benefits in the year-end spending package.
“It is unconscionable that some in Congress would stand in the way of providing SNAP replacement benefits to those who have been victims of fraud,” said Crystal FitzSimons, interim president of the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group , in a statement over the weekend.
The senators’ letter states that stolen benefits will remain a problem unless the Department of Agriculture repeals the requirement that SNAP EBT cards have “outdated and insecure” magnetic stripes within the next few years and require chip cards instead.
“While replacing stolen benefits is critical, it is not a sustainable solution,” the letter said. “Expeditiously issuing the proposed rule to modernize EBT technology will reduce fraud, improve consumer protections and ultimately save taxpayer dollars.”
Wyden introduced a bill in March that would direct the Department of Agriculture to issue updated cybersecurity rules for SNAP EBT cards for the first time since 2010 and phase out magnetic stripe cards within five years. The bill has yet to be introduced.
Fetterman, co-sponsor of Wyden’s bill, said in a statement to NBC News on Monday that low-income families should not worry about losing benefits “because the system has not kept up with basic safety standards.”
“Congress directed USDA to modernize these cards to protect families exposed to unnecessary risks of fraud and theft,” he said. “We are calling on the USDA to stop trolling and modernize EBT cards with the same technology we have used for years on credit and debit cards.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
