{"id":2443156,"date":"2025-06-05T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T11:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/food-stamp-fraudsters-are-stealing-your-money\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T07:52:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T11:52:40","slug":"food-stamp-fraudsters-are-stealing-your-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/food-stamp-fraudsters-are-stealing-your-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Stamp Fraudsters Are Stealing Your Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffood-stamp-fraudsters-are-stealing-your-money%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2443156&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On May 29, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against a USDA employee and five individuals from New York for allegedly defrauding the federal government of $66 million through unauthorized transactions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins lauded the operation as one of the largest stings against food stamp fraud, which had been ongoing for approximately five years, averaging $13.2 million annually-a small fraction of New york&#8217;s total $6.5 billion SNAP spending.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the magnitude of the scheme, previous studies indicate that a significant number of SNAP beneficiaries do not report receiving benefits, complicating assessments of actual fraud levels. Estimates suggest that as much as 20% of SNAP&#8217;s budget could be lost to fraud, amounting to $25 billion annually. The current system creates limited incentive for states to combat fraud, as the federal government covers excess spending.<\/p>\n<p>Proposals have emerged to address this issue by shifting some financial responsibility for SNAP to states, a move that has faced opposition from Democrats who fear it may lead to significant cuts in food assistance. The reconciliation bill proposes a gradual implementation of cost-sharing for states, based on their error rates, potentially encouraging more efficient management and reducing fraud. Critics, however, warn that this could threaten the program&#8217;s viability. Agriculture Committee member Rep. Derrick Van Orden supported the bill, emphasizing the need for states to have a vested interest in the proper administration of SNAP benefits.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President Donald J. Trump&rsquo;s Department of Justice uprooted hidden millions May 29, charging an employee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and five New York residents with defrauding the federal government of &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/usda-employee-and-five-others-charged-multimillion-dollar-food-stamp-fraud-and-bribery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$66 million<\/a> in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (&lsquo;SNAP&rsquo;) &mdash; colloquially known as food stamps.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Yesterday was, if not the largest, one of [the] largest stings,&rdquo; said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, my former boss at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/trump-agency-uncovers-one-largest-food-stamp-fraud-bribery-schemes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">of the bust<\/a>, &ldquo;At [the] USDA, we are hyper-focused . . . on rooting out that waste, fraud and abuse.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While $66 million may sound extensive, the fraud scheme lasted about five years, which averages to about $13.2 million a year. That&rsquo;s only 0.2 percent of New York&rsquo;s $6.5 billion in SNAP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.ny.gov\/news\/governor-hochul-announces-nearly-65-billion-food-assistance-delivered-low-income-new-yorkers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spending<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, nearly three million New Yorkers received SNAP food welfare each month, with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-inflation-reduction-act-is-nothing-more-than-a-handout-to-big-pharma\/\" title=\"The \u2018Inflation Reduction Act\u2019 Is Nothing More Than A Handout To Big Pharma\">average monthly subsidy<\/a> of $376 per household. This is part of a nationwide SNAP program the USDA runs, totaling about $123.3 billion in fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s where things get interesting: SNAP is a federally funded entitlement. Anyone who meets the <a href=\"https:\/\/fns-prod.azureedge.us\/sites\/default\/files\/media\/file\/FY2025-Income-Eligibility-Standards.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">threshold<\/a> monthly income for a family of four &mdash; $3,380 in the 48 contiguous states, D.C., Guam, and the Virgin Islands, $4,225 in Alaska, and $3,887 in Hawaii &mdash; qualifies.<\/p>\n<p>States administer the program and essentially bill the federal government for SNAP subsidies paid out. States split a modest administrative fee 50-50 with the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>This arrangement means there is little incentive for a state to combat fraud because the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >federal government automatically covers<\/a> any extra spending. Even fraudsters spend their ill-gotten gains somewhere &mdash; most likely in the state where they are operating. Who cares if there is a little fraud? Of course, the U.S. taxpayer does.<\/p>\n<p>Previous academic studies have noted a disconnect in the amount of SNAP subsidies reported by states as paid out and the amount of SNAP subsidies claimed by people receiving them on U.S. Census surveys. One <a href=\"https:\/\/jhr.uwpress.org\/content\/wpjhr\/early\/2020\/08\/11\/jhr.58.1.0818-9704R2.full.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> found that about 35 percent of SNAP beneficiaries will not report receiving benefits out of the approximately&nbsp;3.5 million&nbsp;households annually who receive the American Community Survey (ACS), while 50 percent of those receiving food welfare fail to report this in response to the 60,000 Current Population Surveys sent out every month.<\/p>\n<p>This underreporting matters for policymakers because SNAP subsidies, as well as other federal, state, and local welfare for the poor, only show a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texaspolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2017-08-RR03-ReexamingPoverty-CEF-ChuckDeVore.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reduction<\/a> in poverty rates if the income is not reported to Census.<\/p>\n<p>But maybe the academic studies are wrong and fraud is much more than we assume. Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions&rsquo; Government Group, estimated that about 20 percent of SNAP&rsquo;s annual budget, or $25 billion, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/national\/article_4ba7116a-5dee-11ee-ab64-8f1171964e79.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is lost<\/a> to fraud. Now, we&rsquo;re talking Department Of Government Efficiency numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, given SNAP&rsquo;s financial set up &mdash; all gain and no pain for the states &mdash; it stands to reason there might be serious fraud in the program. Of note, one of those charged in the SNAP fraud scheme, Arlasa Davis, was a veteran USDA employee &ldquo;who worked within the very division of the USDA responsible for identifying SNAP fraud,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/usda-employee-and-five-others-charged-multimillion-dollar-food-stamp-fraud-and-bribery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to the Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One way to solve this systemic fraud problem is to <a href=\"https:\/\/epicforamerica.org\/federal-budget\/food-stamp-state-cost-sharing-can-improve-outcomes-and-sustainability-without-changing-total-benefit-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shift<\/a> some financial responsibility for the program to the states &mdash; and that&rsquo;s just what the proposed Big Beautiful Bill, or reconciliation bill, does. Medicaid, another federally funded but state-administered program, also suffers from a systemic fraud problem for much the same reason. Democrats are having none of it, however, with breathless headlines warning that, &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/frac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Historic-SNAP-Cuts-Threaten-Families-States-and-the-Future-of-Food-Assistance.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Historic SNAP Cuts Threaten Families, States, and the Future of Food Assistance<\/a>,&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbpp.org\/research\/food-assistance\/house-reconciliation-bill-proposes-deepest-snap-cut-in-history-would-take\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Reconciliation Bill Proposes Deepest SNAP Cut in History, Would Take Food Assistance Away From Millions of Low-Income Families<\/a>&rdquo; or end in some states entirely. The latter claim is presumably because, since the program is optional, imposing any cost sharing would end the program. The left should remember that, while states don&rsquo;t have the ability to borrow and print money to infinity, they do possess an independent ability to tax, spend, and determine the best provisions for their residents&rsquo; well-being.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joni-ernst-defends-big-beautiful-bill-medicaid-changes-in-town-hall\/\" title=\"Joni Ernst defends &#039;big, beautiful bill&#039; Medicaid changes in town hall\">reconciliation bill&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-bill\/1\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed<\/a> federal-state SNAP cost-sharing, depending on a state&rsquo;s error rate, can be as low as 12.5 percent and as high as 32.5 percent by 2028 &mdash; in the range of the estimated rate of fraud that plagues the program.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/vanorden.house.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Derrick Van Orden<\/a> (R-Wis.) a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, told me, &ldquo;I am proud of how the One Big Beautiful Bill encourages responsible bureaucracies by rewarding states that administer SNAP benefits efficiently and gives states that do not, the ability to improve. This would never happen unless they have skin in the game.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As far as the radical left&rsquo;s fear-mongering statements that benefits will be cut if the states must chip in, I know I can speak for my fellow Wisconsinites when I say we are willing to help our American neighbors most in need.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chuck DeVore is chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a former California legislator, and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. He&#8217;s the author of <a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0BGNKPTLR\">&ldquo;The Crisis of the House Never United&mdash;A Novel of Early America.&rdquo; <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump&#8217;s DOJ charged USDA employee and five New Yorkers with $66M SNAP fraud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":563,"featured_media":2443157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/6772193285_fcdfb59e43_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[41631,34205,6909,41901,56574],"class_list":["post-2443156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-financial-crime","tag-food-stamps","tag-fraud","tag-government-assistance","tag-welfare-abuse"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/6772193285_fcdfb59e43_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443156"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2443160,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443156\/revisions\/2443160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2443157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}