Fact Check: Are USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins' claims about SNAP funding under Biden true?
WASHINGTON, DC: In late 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins repeatedly claimed expenses for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — also known as food stamp assistance — increased drastically under former President Joe Biden's administration.
Rollins made the claims from October to December 2025. But is there any truth to her statements? Let us find out below.
Claim: Brooke Rollins says SNAP costs increased under Biden's administration
On October 31, 2025, Brooke Rollins presented a graph that went 'back to October of 2023,' showing 'an almost 30% increase in the cost of the SNAP program over the four years that President Biden and the USDA were overseeing it'.
Similarly, a few days later, she claimed on Fox News that SNAP increased 'almost 40%' in 'just a couple of years under the Biden administration.' She did not specify whether she meant enrollment, average monthly benefits, or total spending.
On my first day @USDA, we told every state to send us their SNAP data so we could make sure illegal immigrants aren’t getting benefits meant for American families. 29 states stepped up. 21 blue states refused — and two SUED US FOR ASKING! 🤦🏻♀️
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) November 2, 2025
And guess what? In just the states… pic.twitter.com/W7ha0Le1eN
Moreover, in December 2025, she repeated the 40 percent figure in reference to an increase in 'food stamp funding' while 'Joe Biden was working to buy an election.'
Fact Check: Brooke Rollins' statements did not add up
The claims made by Brooke Rollins that SNAP costs increased under Joe Biden's administration did not add up. Total federal spending on SNAP decreased under the Biden administration; adjusted for inflation, costs increased slightly, but nowhere near 30 or 40 percent, Snopes reported.
The outlet reported that substantial increases to SNAP spending did happen under the first Trump administration as part of an emergency relief package during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden's presidency started on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. From February 2021 to January 2025, total benefit costs decreased by 12 percent.
Even if adjusted for inflation, total costs increased by 6 percent, as first calculated by The Hamilton Project at Brookings Institution. Comparing the start and end of Biden's term doesn't get close to that 40 percent number claimed by Rollins.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump's first term started on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. The Hamilton Project and Snopes found that benefit costs rose by 64 percent from February 2017 to January 2021.
Furthermore, the largest increase in total SNAP costs during the Biden administration was from 2021 to 2022, which increased only by 3 percent, or 11 percent adjusted for inflation.
To sum things up, the math doesn't support Rollins' claims. SNAP spending decreased during Biden's administration by about 12 percent, and adjusted for inflation, it increased by 6 percent.
