Letter: Vt. sends private data to Trump administration

August 8, 2025

To the Community:

Last week, Gov. Phil Scott complied with a Trump administration demand to turn over personal information – including names, Social Security numbers, and home addresses – of more than 64,000 Vermonters who receive SNAP benefits.
This has serious implications for thousands of Vermonters who rely on food assistance. Programs like SNAP – part of our social safety net – work when the real and perceived stigma of having to rely on this help is minimized. The success is doubled when families and their children eat healthier food at home and at school. There is no denying this fact. 

Federal SNAP benefits are funded through the Agriculture bill, which happens because having Vermonters and Americans in need helps farmers as well, especially small family farms like we have and celebrate in Vermont.
While 20 other states chose to fight the mandate, Gov. Scott chose to comply without resistance – the private data of our most vulnerable neighbors is now in the hands of an administration with a clear agenda of surveillance and intimidation, and the protections of that data is at risk to hacking because, that's what happens when private data enters the internet stream. It becomes vulnerable to attack from those who wish to benefit, either financially or politically, from the data.
To be clear, this Republican administration, by fiat, has chosen NOT to protect attacks by the corrupt Republican administration in Washington D.C., and has allowed the continued attacks on those families that are most vulnerable to continue unabated.
This decision follows one made earlier this year to not continue emergency measures to ensure Vermonters of a place to call home, as well as to not create a response that is compassionate and necessary, and a decision to end Vermont’s participation in the Americorps program, which allows for young Americans and Vermonters the opportunity to serve nonprofit communities across the state, including, locally, the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.

Make no mistake: What is happening in Washington is meant to create chaos and fear, and the intent is to roll back social and financial gains made (with a lot of effort) by Americans for the last 100 years.
As a legislator, a taxpayer, and a human being, I'm deeply disappointed that leadership in Vermont sent private information without consent or notification to Vermonters whose data was shared, and I know this will have an extremely negative effect on families who rely on food assistance.
At this moment, and regardless of political party, the governor should be protecting Vermonters’ privacy and should not be handing it over. Now is the time to let Gov. Scott know that Vermonters expect protection of our personal information. I encourage anyone who shares my concerns about this decision to call the governor’s office at 802-828-3333.
They may tell you that they had no choice. There is always a choice, and the one made will hurt Vermonters for months and years to come.

Rep. Tom Stevens

Waterbury 

Rep. Stevens, D-Waterbury, represents the Washington-Chittenden district covering Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buels Gore. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. tstevens@leg.state.vt.us