USDA's 2026 Plan Adds Chip Technology to SNAP EBT Cards to Fight Fraud

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule to upgrade the cards used by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients with chip technology, a change the Trump administration is pushing as a tool against a form of fraud that has cost SNAP households money, according to NPR.

What Does the Proposed Rule Change?

The rule, as reported by NPR, centers on the physical card technology used to access SNAP benefits. Current Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards largely rely on magnetic stripes, the same older-generation technology once standard on consumer debit and credit cards before the broader financial industry shifted to embedded chips. USDA's proposal would move SNAP cards toward chip-based technology, which NPR describes as a step toward closing a fraud gap that has affected recipients.

Why Target This Kind of Fraud?

NPR's reporting frames the proposed rule as "a major step forward in addressing a form of fraud that has robbed SNAP recipients of millions." The outlet does not specify a dollar figure beyond that characterization, and no breakdown of losses by state or year is included in the available reporting. The vulnerability tied to magnetic-stripe cards is a known weakness in payment systems generally: stripe data can be copied more easily than data stored on an embedded chip, which is why banks and retailers moved consumer debit and credit cards to chip technology over the past decade. USDA's proposal would extend that same shift to the SNAP benefit system.

Who Is Behind the Push?

The proposed rule comes from USDA under the Trump administration, according to NPR's report. The agency administers SNAP, which provides food-purchasing assistance to low-income households, and sets the technical standards states must follow when issuing benefit cards. Because states operate their own EBT systems under federal guidelines, a USDA rule change of this kind would set requirements that state agencies issuing SNAP cards would need to follow.

What Happens Next?

Federal rules of this kind typically move through a public rulemaking process before taking effect, though NPR's report does not detail a specific timeline, comment period, or implementation date for this proposal. The available reporting does not indicate when states would be required to begin issuing chip-enabled cards or how the transition would be funded. Those details, along with any formal notice published by USDA, would determine how quickly recipients see new cards in hand.

What to Watch

• Whether USDA publishes a formal notice with a public comment period and implementation deadline
• How individual states plan to fund and roll out chip-card issuance for existing SNAP recipients
• Whether consumer and anti-hunger advocacy groups weigh in during any comment period
• Any follow-up USDA data quantifying fraud losses tied to magnetic-stripe cards

The proposal addresses a narrower slice of SNAP fraud tied to card technology rather than broader program integrity questions, and NPR's report does not indicate it covers other forms of benefit misuse.

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