American lawmakers unveiled a bill aiming to shore up security of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment cards, which they say could be exploited by criminals looking to take advantage of low-income Americans.
Democratic Senators John Fetterman and Ron Wyden, from Pennsylvania and Oregon respectively, joined up with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana to release the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act, which would mandate fraud-resistant chips for SNAP payment cards, called Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT).
SNAP benefits are given to Americans through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help low-income households purchase "nutritious food essential to health and well-being" during their grocery shopping.
The senators suggested that the payment cards for SNAP have not had their security protections updated in more than a decade.
"SNAP is a critical lifeline for nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians—we must do everything we can to protect it. It's despicable that thieves are targeting vulnerable hungry families with cyber-crime scams. We can't let families go hungry because of bad faith actors," Fetterman, who also chairs the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, said in a statement.
His colleague from Oregon, Wyden, suggested that the SNAP payment cards deserve similar protections of credit cards.
"There's no excuse for this two-tier system, where families in need are stuck with outdated, easily hackable technology while folks with credit and ATM cards are better protected," he said in the statement. "Inaction is not good enough for families, not when it can be the difference between a family in need having food for dinner or going hungry."
The bill has received a companion bill from the House of Representatives from Democratic Congressmen Andy Kim of New Jersey and Republican Mike Lawler of New York.
It was time to protect SNAP beneficiaries, Cassidy said.
"SNAP is supposed to help the person who is food insecure," he said in a statement. "It is not supposed to help crooks who steal these benefits. This fights the crooks while preserving the benefits for those most in need."
The bill will ask the USDA to have anti-fraud technology infused in the SNAP payment cards, which would be updated every five years. The cards would also be chip-enabled within two years of the new requirements going into effect. The USDA would also be required to manage a grant program aiming to finance payment machines in small grocery stores that will be able to accept the new payment cards. The bill also asks states to help develop a user-friendly app for EBT.
"I am proud to work across the aisle on this bipartisan, bicameral bill to modernize SNAP and stop criminals from stealing critical food assistance from working families," Fetterman said in the statement.
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