Justice Department Sues Four Democrat-Led States For Hiding SNAP Data From Fraud Investigators

The Department of Justice is suing four Democrat-led states for hiding from fraud investigators data on a popular but often abused, federal food aid program.

The federal government has now “filed lawsuits against Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota, seeking injunctions requiring their state SNAP agencies to turn over their last five years of SNAP applicant data,” the Justice Department announced in a statement.

“This comes after those four states refused to turn over the data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) so that USDA could ensure that states are properly administering and enforcing their determinations of residents’ eligibility for SNAP, including household benefit levels,” the Justice Department notes.

“When USDA requested this data last year, these states and several others refused to comply.  Twenty-eight other jurisdictions, however, promptly provided their data.  Data received from the compliant 28 states indicate there are billions of dollars per year in SNAP funds going to overpayments and fraud,” the Justice Department reports.

“Faced with this evidence, USDA again requested SNAP applicant data from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota in May.  Yet again, these states refused to comply.  The states’ ongoing noncompliance creates the likelihood of ongoing, material waste, fraud, and abuse going undetected.  Such reckless disregard for Federal law and the public fisc cannot continue,” the Justice Department comments.

“The American people deserve a government that is transparent about how it spends their hard-earned tax dollars,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “These four states are thwarting USDA’s efforts to ensure that the billions of dollars in SNAP benefits they distribute every year are not lost to fraud. It’s unacceptable, suspicious, and it will not stand under this Administration.”

“For nearly 365 days, several States have shamelessly defied federal law and withheld data to which the U.S. Department of Agriculture is entitled,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. “USDA has worked constructively with the majority of States to ensure criminals, fraudulent activity, and other waste, no longer plague a program meant to serve the most vulnerable households and communities among us. Today, I asked the Acting Attorney General to compel Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Michigan to comply with federal law. If a State misguidedly stands between the federal government and the information needed to protect the generosity of the American taxpayer, the Trump Administration will take them to court.”

“The Department of Justice is dedicated to combatting waste, fraud, and abuse in federal benefits programs, and ensuring that American taxpayers are not footing the bill for benefits that recipients are not entitled to under federal law,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

“Stopping the rampant theft of taxpayer money demands a whole-of-government response, including strong participation at the state level,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “These states are happy to take hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars—much of which is exploited by fraudsters—but want zero transparency over how those tax dollars are spent. It’s pretty simple: share the data that shows how America’s money is being spent—and stolen—in your state. These lawsuits are required because these states refuse to take the most basic steps to help stop the rampant theft of taxpayer dollars.”

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