In a letter, six Democratic senators urged the U.S. Agriculture Department to act immediately to safeguard the benefits cards that are being used to steal grocery money from low-income families.
Over $150 million in stolen benefits have been returned to SNAP participants by the federal government since the previous fiscal year, according to data.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the senators stated that a proposed rule regarding modernizing the cards, which the Agriculture Department has not yet released, would stop the thefts from spreading, but the actual amount taken from needy households is probably much higher than that.
The letter, which was received Monday evening and initially published by NBC News, stated that the USDA should move quickly to mandate that state-issued assistance cards be secured by industry-standard payment security protections. Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., signed it.
According to the Agriculture Department, which is in charge of SNAP, it is a comprehensive public benefits program that assists more than 42 million people across the country in buying fruits, vegetables, and other goods. Previously known as food stamps, the program issues electronic benefits transfer cards with magnetic stripes to users, which they scan at card-reading machines.
However, SNAP EBT cards do not include security features like microchips or tap-to-pay technology, in contrast to consumer credit and debit cards. Because of this, they are especially susceptible to skimming, a type of electronic crime in which thieves conceal devices in payment terminals and duplicate card details, including PINs. (An illustration of skimming overlays can be found here.) The information is then copied onto fictitious cards, which the fraudsters use to deprive SNAP users of their benefits.
In an NBC News statement, Wyden said, “It is unacceptable that scammers and hackers are stealing food benefits that low-income families depend on to put food on the table.” Our government must continue to put off enforcing laws that would protect families from robbers who steal their benefits and leave them without enough cash to buy groceries.
Only a few states have timelines for the switch to chip-embedded cards, and none currently offer EBT cards with microchip protection. According to an Agriculture Department representative, California is the state that is furthest advanced, with plans to begin implementing them in early 2025. According to representatives for the organizations that run SNAP in those states, Alabama may adopt chip cards as early as the spring, but Oklahoma and Alabama are expected to make the changeover next summer.
The Agriculture Department must mandate more secure cards across the country as quickly as feasible, according to advocates.
According to Betsy Gwin, a senior economic justice lawyer at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a nonprofit center for poverty law and policy, the impacted households are victims of crime.
Hearing from families who are taking all the necessary precautions but are still in danger and wind up in a grocery store checkout line with a cart full of groceries only to find out that their benefits for that month have been stolen and they are unable to feed their family is still incredibly heartbreaking, she said.
In their letter, the senators urged the Agriculture Department to expeditiously complete the proposed rule for EBT card security measures, which was mandated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
The senators stated that although the private sector’s creativity and some states’ leadership in this area are praiseworthy, the severity of the problem necessitates a coordinated government approach.
Last month, Vilsack urged all state governors to implement revised EBT guidelines for cardholders. Before receiving the letter, the Agriculture Department told NBC News that rulemaking on EBT card security improvements is still in progress and should be completed by 2025.
According to a spokesperson’s email, states are not prohibited by our present regulations from deploying chip cards prior to this rulemaking.
Reimbursements 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 is set to expire.
Only a handful of states reinstate skimmed SNAP dollars using state funds, and unless Congress acts soon, federal funds will no longer be authorized to reimburse those who become victims of EBT theft after Friday meaning most who are robbed of their grocery funds would not get them back.
Those fighting food insecurity have appealed to Congress to extend federal SNAP replacement benefits in the end-of-year 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, Crystal FitzSimons, interim president of the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy organization, said in a statement over the weekend.
The senators letter said stolen benefits will continue to be a problem unless the Agriculture Department removes the requirement that SNAP EBT cards have outdated and insecure magnetic stripes and instead require chip cards within the next couple of years.
Replacing stolen benefits, while critical, is not a sustainable solution, the letter said. Rapidly issuing the proposed rule to modernize EBT technology will reduce fraud, enhance consumer protections, and ultimately save taxpayer dollars.
Wydenintroduced a bill in Marchthat would direct the Agriculture Department to issue updated cybersecurity regulations for SNAP EBT cards for the first time since 2010 andphase out magnetic stripe cardswithin five years. The bill has yet to advance.
Fetterman, a co-sponsor on Wyden s bill, said in a statement to NBC News on Monday that low-income families should not have to worry about losing their benefits because the system hasn t kept up with basic security standards.
Congress directed USDA to modernize these cards to protect families exposed to unnecessary risks of fraud and theft, he said. We re calling on the USDA to stop dragging their feet and modernize EBT cards with the same technology we ve used for years on credit and debit cards.
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