The White House, the Associated Press and Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported a week ago, is threatening to withhold a portion of federal money earmarked for administrative costs of the SNAP assistance program from states resisting federal requests for program data.
As the Associated Press report notes, the law permits the federal government to withhold money from states for patterns of noncompliance.
It’s a good law. Its clear intent is to ensure the government is an effective steward of your and our tax dollars.
We want this law to be effective — and equipping federal officials with as much data and as many figures as necessary to adequately review if there are patterns of noncompliance — and really, to best spend assistance dollars in ways that provide the most support to those who need it most — is clearly an integral step in that effectiveness.
We do not find the Trump administration’s requests to be unreasonable.
While we hope that the matter can be resolved without jeopardizing assistance to struggling families — and with the portion in contention specifically earmarked for administrative costs we don’t see that it will — we cannot pretend that the surest path to resolving the issue isn’t for states to provide the federal government with more data — and for government at all levels, including these recalcitrant states, to respect oversight and accountability.