WASHINGTON — A southern Ohio congressman filed legislation Thursday that would require every state to turn over detailed fraud data from the federal food assistance program or risk losing administrative funding.
Rep. Dave Taylor, a Republican representing Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, introduced the SNAP Fraud Reporting Act with backing from 10 Republican cosponsors, including Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Wesley Hunt of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Barry Moore of Alabama, Mark Harris of North Carolina, Tony Wied of Wisconsin, William Timmons of South Carolina, Russell Fry of South Carolina, and Tom Barrett of Michigan.
The bill would give states 180 days after enactment to submit fraud-related data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program covering the previous five fiscal years. After the initial disclosure, states would be required to file annual reports going forward. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would then compile the findings and deliver them to Congress within 180 days, with yearly updates to follow.
States that fail to comply could see their SNAP administrative funding withheld.
The legislation specifically targets benefits issued using the Social Security numbers of deceased individuals, fraudulent or stolen Social Security numbers, and benefits paid to noncitizens who do not meet eligibility requirements. It also seeks data on the total number of fraud cases identified, the dollar amounts involved, the number of investigations opened, and what enforcement actions were taken.
SNAP is one of the largest federal assistance programs in the country. It is funded at the federal level but run by states and counties, a structure that gives state governments wide latitude in how the program is administered and how much information they make public.
Taylor said Ohio families who rely on the program during difficult times should not have their benefits undermined by fraud. He attributed what he called widespread waste, fraud, and abuse to a lack of oversight under the previous administration and said the bill is aimed at restoring accountability.
Moore said the legislation would reveal the full scope of fraud that has gone unreported. Mace said states that refuse to hand over data should expect to lose funding, saying there should be “no more excuses.” Wied said governors in more than 20 states, including Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, have kept SNAP data from public view.
The bill follows a directive issued in February 2025 by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins ordering states to share SNAP data as part of a broader push to root out fraud. By November 2025, preliminary data from 29 states that cooperated showed roughly 200,000 benefits had been linked to the Social Security numbers of deceased individuals. Twenty-one states had not fully turned over their records at the time.
The legislation arrives amid an ongoing national debate over program integrity and how much transparency states owe the public and the federal government on how food assistance dollars are being spent.