Wyden, Merkley Call on Trump Administration to Secure Oregonians’ Food Benefits Against Hackers and Thieves

Wyden, Merkley Call on Trump Administration to Secure Oregonians' Food Benefits Against Hackers and Thieves

Wyden renews calls for passage of bipartisan bill to protect SNAP benefits nationwide following spike of SNAP skimming in Eastern Oregon

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today called on the Trump administration to take immediate action to protect Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits against theft and hacking, and implement minimum cybersecurity standards for essential food assistance nationwide following recent reports of a spike in SNAP skimming in Malheur County earlier this month.

"To prevent instances like this from recurring, and to earnestly cut down on the organized theft of federal dollars for criminal purposes, the USDA must act with urgency to require state-issued benefit cards to be protected by industry-standard payment security defenses to protect users against card skimming, card cloning, and other similar fraudulent means. Such defenses have already been widely adopted by both the private sector and throughout the Executive Branch." The Senators wrote in their letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.

The letter calls on the USDA to 1) restore the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) payments to vital food assistance programs for areas with highest reliance on SNAP benefits, as well as nationwide, and 2) issue a long-awaited rule to update EBT card security requirements to protect EBT cards from theft.

To date, tens of millions of dollars in SNAP benefits have been stolen by criminals exploiting lax security of SNAP electronic benefit cards. Congress has spent years pressing the USDA to require states to issue cards with secure chips rather than magnetic strips that can be easily cloned by criminals. Despite those requests, USDA has failed to update security regulations for benefit cards.

Wyden has been a long-standing advocate for stronger cybersecurity standards in the federal government. Last year, he introduced his bipartisan Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act to address fraud by directing the USDA to update its cybersecurity regulations to ensure SNAP benefits cannot be easily stolen by criminals, safeguarding this essential lifeline for millions of Americans.

The letter can be found here.