The Brief

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which currently helps almost 42 million Americans buy groceries.

In recent media appearances, she said attention on SNAP during the government shutdown "has given us a platform to completely deconstruct the program" and said details about structural changes to the program would be released this week.

Rollins has made a case for sweeping changes to SNAP by asserting her agency uncovered "massive fraud" in state data the agency demanded, and has emphasized statistics suggesting wrongdoing without providing the underlying data or details.

The Trump administration's latest campaign for SNAP changes comes as millions of recipients are already poised to lose benefits in the coming years as states begin to implement new work requirements and eligibility rules that Republicans in Congress passed over the summer that are the deepest cuts in history to the program.

In a Fox Business interview last month, Rollins said the further changes she is proposing will "make sure those vulnerable Americans who really need that benefit are going to get it. And for all the rest of the fraudsters and the people who are corrupt and taking advantage of it — we're going to protect the taxpayer, too."

Food policy experts say they are concerned that Rollins' talking points suggest a distorted view of the prevalence of SNAP recipients committing fraud, and seem to conflate fraud with payment errors of any kind.

"My worry is that she's risking setting a public narrative that this is a program that has more fraud than it actually does, or that the people who need it and use it to meet their very basic food needs are somehow committing a crime by seeking food assistance," said Stacy Dean, executive director of George Washington University's Global Food Institute and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official during the Biden administration.

"And that's just it's not it's not good for the program. It's absolutely terrible for the people who need it," Dean said.

Comments Rollins made in recent weeks that everyone on SNAP would have to reapply sparked confusion among SNAP recipients, state officials and food policy experts. SNAP recipients already have to go through a recertification process — in most cases every six or 12 months, and it is unclear what legal authority USDA would have to add additional steps.

A group of Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter last month asking Rollins to clarify what she meant and pointed out that SNAP is facing "unprecedented cuts" and there is additional uncertainty after the Trump administration halted SNAP payments during the shutdown.

"We are therefore troubled that the Administration could choose, at this moment, to add additional red tape that creates duplicative and unnecessary barriers to accessing nutrition assistance for families," the letter reads.

USDA officials are seemingly walking back the suggestion that there will be a new reapplication process for SNAP recipients. A statement from the agency indicates that it plans to use existing recertification protocols.

"Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends. Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it," reads a statement from a USDA spokesperson. "Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of state data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with states."

Unpacking Rollins' claims

Earlier this year, the USDA made an unprecedented demand to states to turn over personal data of SNAP recipients. Most Democratic-led states refused, and a federal judge in San Francisco blocked USDA from withholding funding from states that did not comply and found the federal agency's data demand was likely unlawful.

But 28 states and Guam did turn over data, according to a USDA spokesperson, and Rollins has been citing statistics from that data in several media appearances in recent weeks as evidence that the food assistance program needs to be overhauled.

In a recent News Nation interview, Rollins said the state data showed that "186,000 dead people receiving benefits, 500,000 Americans receiving benefits two times, so double what they should be receiving. We've arrested more than 120 people with SNAP fraud," Rollins said.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins points to a chart on SNAP benefits during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Oct. 31 in Washington, D.C.

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Anna Moneymaker

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"And that doesn't include most of the blue states where we believe there's even more fraud and abuse. And under the last administration, the SNAP benefits increased 40%. So clearly, there's a right-sizing that needs to happen."

The USDA has not presented data that backs up these statistics, which makes it hard to evaluate their significance.

For example, some deceased individuals will inevitably be enrolled in the program because state officials have to verify the death and provide time for the household to respond before SNAP benefits are reduced or terminated. Households that erroneously receive payments when someone is deceased must pay that money back.

As for people receiving two benefit payments, the specifics of the cases Rollins cited are still unknown, but in court filings a California state official listed a number of legitimate explanations for why that can occur — including when a SNAP household is owed a supplemental payment to correct an error.

It is also unclear what Rollins means when she says SNAP benefits increased 40% under the Biden administration. USDA did not respond to a question seeking clarification.

The department announced that SNAP payments would expand 40% due to the pandemic in April 2020 — during President Trump's first term.

Lauren Bauer, a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and the associate director of The Hamilton Project, analyzed USDA data but was unable to find evidence of a 40% increase under Biden. Instead, she found that during Trump's presidency benefit costs increased by more than 30%, while during Biden's term they decreased by almost 17%.

"The dynamics of benefit increases and decreases is not really about presidencies. It's about the business cycle and where we are in terms of a recession and in terms of the climb out of it," Bauer said.

More SNAP changes to come

A draft of a regulation that the USDA submitted to the Office of Management and Budget last month could provide a clue for one of the changes to SNAP the Trump administration could unveil soon.

The draft calls for narrowing what is known as "broad-based categorical eligibility" for SNAP, which is currently used by more than 40 states to ensure welfare recipients can receive SNAP.

Researchers at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute have argued this eligibility rule should be ended because states are using it to allow people with incomes above the limit set by the SNAP statute to receive the benefit. Though they also cautioned that eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility must be done in a way that addresses "benefit cliffs" that would disincentivize people from earning slightly more because they would lose benefits and become worse off.

Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities who has criticized the potential change, estimates a policy change like this could lead to nearly 6 million people losing SNAP benefits.

"At every opportunity, the administration is seeking additional ways to attack anti-hunger programs," Bergh said.

Copyright 2025 NPR

I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the recent headline that fire season in L.A. is all but over. Forget Dodgers season tickets — I can’t think of a better holiday gift for this city.

Music-wise, ease into December with Lady Blackbird at the Blue Note on Monday. Our friends at Licorice Pizza also recommend RuPaul’s Drag Race all-star Alaska 5000’s A Very Alaska Christmas Show at the Regent on Tuesday and superstar rapper Blxst’s first of four nights at the Roxy (he’ll also be there Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday). On Wednesday, Twin Shadow is at the Regent, and on Thursday, our personal faves, Public Service Broadcasting, are also at the Regent.

Explore more on LAist, where you can find the best local food and drink gifts to give this holiday season, read up on FilmWeek’s latest film picks, and we talk to Wicked: For Good costume designer Paul Tazewell. And don’t forget to support LAist on Giving Tuesday!

Events

Frank Meyer in concert

Wednesday, December 3, 11 p.m. 
Old Towne Pub 
66 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena
COST: $10; MORE INFO 

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Mario Luis

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Frank Meyer has been playing the L.A. punk scene for decades. Founder of West Coast punk legends Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, Meyer (he might look familiar also because his brother is actor Breckin Meyer), has collaborated with folks like James Williamson (Iggy & the Stooges), Wayne Kramer (MC5), FEAR and Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers). He’ll play from his debut solo album at Old Towne Pub in Pasadena — get all that post-Thanksgiving rage out with some punk jams!

Writers Bloc presents NY AG Letitia James with Brian Tyler Cohen

Thursday, December 4, 7:30 p.m.
The Ebell Lounge
743 S. Lucerne Ave., Mid-Wilshire 
COST: $35; MORE INFO

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Writers Bloc Presents

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Few people have been in the news the past few weeks more than New York Attorney General Letitia James. Fresh off the dismissal of the cases against her and former FBI director James Comey, James is coming to Writers Bloc for a conversation with No Lie podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen. No doubt this will be a topical and exciting evening at the Ebell.

World AIDS Day: Artists and Activism, co-presented by Artillery

Wednesday, December 3, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. 
Oculus Hall at The Broad
221 S Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy The Broad

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Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and a group of incredible artists — including Rubén Esparza, Ken Gonzales-Day, Joey Terrill and photographer-documentarian Judy Ornelas Sisneros — will join journalist Carolina A. Miranda for a conversation about artists, social justice and the history of arts amid the AIDS crisis at the Broad. Across their long careers, the speakers featured have worked to shape how we view the AIDS crisis, LGBTQ+ equality and other issues.

Grand Illuminations

Wednesday, December 3, 12 p.m. 
The Yard at Cal Plaza
350 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy DTLA Alliance

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Downtown lights up for the annual Grand Illuminations opening celebration. It’s free, and there are events from 12 p.m. all through the evening, with a holiday marketplace curated by The Goddess Mercado, live entertainment from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the community tree lighting at 5 p.m.

Last DTLA Art Night of the Year

Thursday, December 4, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Various locations (see map), Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy DTLA Artnight

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It’s the last Downtown L.A. art night until 2026, so grab a jacket and stroll through the various galleries around downtown, many of which have new exhibits open for the holiday season. We recommend checking out the opening of Airbrush to AI: Fifty Years of Reinvention: A Retrospective by Patti Heid at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.

Fiber Night

Thursday, December 4, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
StichStop L.A.
13270 Moorpark Street, Sherman Oaks
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Sharon Waldron

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Whether you’re an avid knitter, embroiderer, weaver or just a dabbler, head to StitchStop LA for their free Fiber Night event in Sherman Oaks. Adults and kids can swing by to learn more about fiber arts and participate in hands-on demonstrations of all kinds of crafts, including crochet, pompom-making, needle-felting and even a special tufting gun demo from Tuft House LA (whose awesome rug classes we’ve featured here before!). Just in time for homemade holiday gifting.

Holiday Undie Run

Thursday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.
The Penmar 
1233 Rose Ave., Venice 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

MeUndies (who else?) is sponsoring a holiday-themed Undie Run at Rose Ave. hotspot The Penmar. Snag free holiday undies (and sport them on the fun run around the public golf course), as well as other gifts, tacos and a “Naughty Santa” photo op.

Brazil: Director's Cut

Monday, December 1, 9:30 p.m.
Alamo Drafthouse 
700 W. 7th Street, Ste. U240, Downtown L.A.
COST: $22.68; MORE INFO 

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Twentieth Century Fox

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OK, so it’s probably the least “holiday” movie I could find, but you don’t want to miss a chance to see Terry Gilliam’s most chilling work, Brazil, on the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse downtown. Take a trip into a pretty dark timeline of future social and political upheaval in this Orwellian masterpiece about bureaucracy gone wrong.

Castanea x Washington Square Pizza

Wednesday, December 3, 6 p.m.
31 Washington Blvd., Venice 
COST: $20; MORE INFO 

Grab a “Memento Box” of pastries, snacks and surprise goodies from Castanea Sicilian Cafe and Washington Square Pizza at Washington Square Pizza for one night only. The event is free, but the box is $20 of yum.

National Cookie Day

Thursday, December 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
McCormick x Milk Bar 
7150 Melrose Ave., Melrose
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy McCormick

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Join McCormick, Milk Bar and Christina Tosi are celebrating National Cookie Day with free giveaways of the limited-edition McCormick x Milk Bar Eggnog English Toffee Cookie. The first 50 customers at the Los Angeles flagship location will receive a free limited-edition cookie. If you’re late, don’t fret: The cookies will be on sale for $4 through Dec. 31.

The Food and Drug Administration intends to get tougher on vaccine approvals, as top officials raised concerns about the risk of COVID vaccines for children.

Speaking on Fox News Saturday morning, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would no longer "rubber-stamp new products that don't work," claiming it made a "mockery of science."

Makary's comments came the day after FDA's top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, told his team the agency would change its annual flu vaccine framework, update vaccine labels to be "honest," and make other changes to how it reviews vaccines, according to contents of an internal email reviewed by NPR and reported on first by a PBS News Hour correspondent and later by The Washington Post.

Prasad wrote that the FDA would also no longer authorize vaccines for pregnant women without stricter requirements. And for pneumonia vaccines, manufacturers will have to prove they reduce disease rather than show they generate antibodies. He also raised questions about giving multiple vaccines at the same time, which is standard practice.

The changes could make it much more difficult and expensive for vaccines to get approved, further limiting the availability of vaccines, which are considered among the safest and most effective tools for protecting people against infectious diseases.

While all vaccines carry some risks, most public health experts argue the current process for vetting vaccines before marketing has long assured that the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks. Studies required after vaccines are approved and surveillance systems, including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), also flag potential safety issues once vaccines are in use.

FDA says an analysis links COVID shots to some deaths

Makary said on Fox News that 10 children had died from the COVID shot during the Biden administration, but did not offer specifics about how the FDA came to that conclusion. Millions of children have received the vaccine. 

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services and Food and Drug Administration didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the COVID analysis and changes to vaccine review standards.

According to the FDA email from Prasad, he told the agency's biostatistics and pharmacovigilance team to analyze 96 reported deaths from 2021 to 2024, and they determined 10 children died "after and because of" the COVID vaccine. But Prasad said the true number was likely higher.

Dr. Paul Offit, who directs the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a text message that Prasad has not shared the evidence that these vaccines killed 10 children.

"Because he doesn't provide any evidence, he is asking us to trust him on an important issue," Office said. "All this will do is scare people unnecessarily. At the very least, he should provide all the evidence he has so that experts in the field can review it and decide whether he has enough data to prove his point."

Dr. Jesse Goodman, a professor at Georgetown University who held Prasad's job at FDA from 2003 until 2009, said in an email that the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees vaccine approval, has been "recognized globally as a gold standard regulator." Goodman defended "immunologic endpoints like antibody levels" for the accelerated approval of pneumonia and influenza vaccines. He said science supports their use and they are confirmed with studies after approval: "These approaches have helped provide children and adults with timely access to safe and effective vaccines, saving many lives."

Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, reviewed the email from Prasad and challenged his statement that "COVID-19 was never highly lethal for children." Osterholm also questioned the FDA's latest analysis of adverse event reports attributing the 10 deaths to COVID vaccines.

"Prasad's email is filled with factual mistakes and misrepresents both the severity of COVID in children (1597 deaths in 2020-2022) and how the US responded to the first signals of possible vaccine-associated pediatric deaths in May 2021," Osterholm wrote in an email to NPR.

"While Prasad's email notes 10 such deaths, these cases have never been presented for review by the medical and public health communities or published in the medical literature," Osterholm continued. "Given the record of this Administration to misrepresent scientific data regarding vaccines, until these cases have been reviewed by an expert third party, like the National Academy of Science[s], we can not accept the fact they are vaccine-associated deaths."

Surveillance system collects vaccines reports

The FDA makes public data from the VAERS surveillance system co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the FDA cautions, "it is important to note that for any reported event, no cause and effect relationship has been established." In his email, Prasad wrote that "with case reports, causality is typically assessed on a subjective scale. In this scale ranging from certain to unlikely — certain, possible/likely, and probable are broadly considered as related to the product."

Makary said on Fox News that when the COVID shot was first rolled out, it was "amazing" for people at high risk of coming down with severe disease, but things have changed.

"Back in 2020, we saw a reduction in the severity of illness and lives saved, but now recommending that a 6-year-old girl get another 70 million COVID shots — one each year for the rest of her life — is not based on science. And so we're not going to just rubber stamp approvals without seeing some scientific evidence."

The claim is the latest move by Trump administration health officials questioning the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and how the government has regulated them. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned vaccines.

The FDA restricted eligibility for the updated COVID vaccines in August after announcing the agency planned to require more evidence about the shots' safety and effectiveness going forward.

CDC committee will meet to review vaccine policies

The FDA email on vaccine policy comes just before the CDC convenes a crucial two-day meeting of that agency's influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Dec. 4-5. The committee is in the process of conducting a major review of how children are inoculated against dangerous infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio and hepatitis B.

Many public health experts are concerned the committee will upend the childhood vaccination schedule. It could move to delay the timing of some inoculations, space out vaccinations and call for the reformulation of some vaccines. Taken together, the moves could result in fewer children getting protected and the resurgence of once-vanquished diseases.

Asked about Makary and Prasad's claims that the COVID vaccine caused deaths among 10 children, Moderna, whose COVID vaccine is approved for children as young as 6 months old, pointed to a statement it made in September. The company says that multiple published, peer-reviewed studies from a variety of sources show its shot is safe and that it is "not aware of any deaths in the last year or pertinent new information from prior years."

Moderna says it monitors its vaccine's safety along with regulators in more than 90 countries. "With more than one billion doses distributed globally, these systems — including in national health systems across Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the U.S. — have not reported any new or undisclosed safety concerns in children or in pregnant women."

Pfizer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Copyright 2025 NPR

California is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Afghan immigrants, many of them now grappling with the Trump administration’s abrupt visa and asylum freeze.

Friday’s announcement by the White House followed the fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C. a couple days earlier by a suspect who had immigrated from Afghanistan.

In Orange County, where many Afghans have settled as their immigration applications pend, local officials are gearing up to help them navigate the change, even as guidance is scant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Jose Serrano, director of Orange County's Office of Refugee and Immigrant Services, said the goal is to provide the “most up-to-date information so they can continue on towards their pathway towards citizenship here in the United States.”

“The Afghan population in Southern California, specifically in Orange County, is one that is really important to the DNA of who we are,” Serrano said. “Let's continue to stay together and strong and reimagine a place for belonging for everyone.”

As they await more information, Serrano advised visa and asylum seekers to:

• stay on top of updates from USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security
• contact their local office of immigrant and refugee affairs
• connect with organizations that work closely with immigrant and refugee populations, such as resettlement agencies and legal aid groups

The pull of OC

Nearly 200,000 Afghans are in the U.S., with 39% of them residing in California, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Hundreds of Afghan households have settled in Orange County, Serrano said, making it one of the state’s hubs for Afghan immigrants alongside San Diego and Sacramento.

Serrano said a big draw for immigrants to Orange County is Little Arabia in Anaheim, a regional destination for Middle Eastern food, culture and community life.

Serrano, who spent more than a decade working with immigrants at World Relief Southern California and the state's refugee programs bureau, said entering Afghan homes means being offered large meals. One family had prepared a whole feast for a Time Warner cable worker, he recalled.

“They didn't understand why that person couldn’t stay to dine with them,” he said. “That’s the type of people that are here in Orange County, folks who are so committed to being a part of civic engagement, to connecting alongside other communities.”

Visa applications in limbo

Serrano said many of the Afghans who resettled in the county are Special Immigrant Visa holders, a program created for Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. government during the war in their home country.

That program has now been frozen by the State Department.

Serrano said immigrants who entered the U.S. as refugees and have since become green card holders could see their cases reopened.

Joseph Edlow, who leads USCIS, said the new immigration measures will last until “we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

For Serrano, the current screening process is rigorous and involves multiple organizations aside from USCIS, such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the F.B.I. and counterterrorist organizations.

Applicants undergo health screenings and multiple fingerprinting appointments, he said.

“They're constantly doing an assessment to verify that you are a good-standing citizen,” Serrano said. “One of the things that I think we should be very proud of within the United States is that there is an in-depth screening process for anyone who is seeking a protection.”