The U.S. Agriculture Department must take immediate action to secure the benefits cards from which low-income families are being robbed of grocery funds, six Democratic senators urged in a letter.
But unlike consumer credit and debit cards, SNAP EBT cards lack security features such as microchips or tap-to-pay technology.
“It’s unacceptable that hackers and scam artists are stealing food benefits that low-income families rely on to put food on the table,” Wyden said in a statement to NBC News.
California, set to start rolling them out in early 2025, is the furthest along, an Agriculture Department spokesperson 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.”
Persons:
Tom Vilsack, ”, Ron Wyden, John Fetterman, Amy Klobuchar, Peter Welch, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, ” Wyden, Betsy Gwin, “, Vilsack, ” Crystal FitzSimons, hasn’t, we’ve
Organizations:
. Agriculture Department, Assistance, SNAP, Agriculture Department, NBC, Sens, NBC News, Agriculture, Reform Institute, Consolidated, cardholders, Food Research, Action Center, Department, USDA
Locations:
California, Alabama, Oklahoma, Massachusetts