Needy Kansans to lose $10.4 million in funding due to Governor’s actions

TOPEKA – (Sept. 22, 2025) – The Kansas SNAP program just lost $10.4 million in federal funding, because Gov. Laura Kelly refused to provide basic information about SNAP recipients to the USDA.

The USDA sent a letter to the Kelly administration seeking basic information, like the names, addresses and dates of birth of SNAP recipients, after President Trump issued an executive order to gather the information to limit fraud in the SNAP program. Other states provided the information within a few days.

The Kelly administration refused.  On August 20, 2025, the USDA issued the Kelly administration a final warning that Kansas would lose $10.4 million in SNAP funding if it did not comply within 30 days. 

On Sept. 8, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit to compel Kelly to release the information as required by Kansas law, which says the government “shall” provide “any” report required by the federal government.

Over the weekend, the USDA carried out its threat and took the funds away from Kansas.  According to a September 20 letter from USDA Deputy Undersecretary of Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Patrick Penn, the Kelly administration failed to comply by a Sept. 19 deadline and therefore Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) disallowed a payment of about $10.4 million to the state of Kansas.

 “We warned that this would happen when we filed the lawsuit on behalf of all Kansans against the governor. She is required by Kansas law to provide this basic information to the USDA. Now low-income Kansas families won’t be able to put food on the table because of her political defiance,” Kobach said.

Kobach added, “The Governor seems to be blinded by her political ideology. She is flagrantly violating Kansas law, and she is hurting needy Kansans in the process.”

FNS will continue to disallow future payments every three months until Kansas provides the requested information.

“The complete transmission of the required SNAP enrollment data is imperative to ensure FNS and the state agency have full insight into the SNAP program integrity,” Penn’s letter to Kelly reads. “In the absence of data, FNS and the Department of Children and Families lack key information necessary to ensure effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars. FNS has already discovered from states that are complying with this statutory data sharing requirement that fraud or duplication in state distribution of federal funds has gone unreported and needs remediation.”

Other states have provided USDA the requested information within a few days. The only other state in the country to be penalized for failure to provide the information is Pennsylvania.

A copy of Penn's letter to Gov. Kelly a copy of the lawsuit, a letter from USDA to the Kelly administration, and a letter from Congressmen Estes and Mann to Kelly are attached.