USDA Addresses SNAP Fraud Concerns
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins discussed the Trump administration’s initiatives to eliminate fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during her appearance on “The Alex Marlow Show.” She explained that personnel from other areas, specifically those who had previously focused on decreasing the USDA’s workforce, have now been reassigned to scrutinize the food assistance program.
When host Alex Marlow inquired about the USDA’s strategies for detecting fraud, Rollins pointed out the issues within SNAP, often referred to as the food stamp program. “Well, we have the SNAP program, right? The food, the food stamp program, and you talk about fraud!” she exclaimed, mentioning that officials were uncovering fraudulent activities not just in SNAP but also in housing, Medicaid, and Medicare.
Rollins highlighted a significant issue with SNAP: it is “a fully federally funded program,” but the government “just hands that money over to the states, and there’s no accountability.”
She expressed concern that “the spending on that program went up 40 percent under the last administration under Biden, which is crazy.” There has been a notable increase in the number of people relying on food stamps.
According to Rollins, during the previous administration, “there was no checking of whether, you know, they were working or trying to find a job. There was no checking on their means. There was no checking on whether they’re driving Lexuses or, you know, Range Rovers, which a lot of them are.”
After assuming her role, Rollins reached out to every governor, saying, “The first day I walked in and sent a letter to every governor and said, ‘We’ve got to change this. This is not red or blue. We’ve got to work together and uncover.’”
She added, “You know, the American taxpayer just is owed better, as are the families that really need this program that is being stolen.”
Rollins noted that states led by Republicans joined the effort, and some Democratic governors also participated, stating, “I had all the R, all the red states sign up, and actually a couple of the blue state governors have been great partners too.”
She revealed that in one state alone, USDA identified “250,000 people that are using dead people’s social security numbers,” along with “hundreds of fancy cars” linked to individuals receiving SNAP benefits. “But we have gotten, we have been able to root out so much already,” she commented.
Rollins explained that she had reassigned the team initially tasked with reducing USDA’s workforce to focus on the SNAP initiative. “I took the Doge team, the Elon team that came into USDA to help us rightsize, and we did,” she noted. “We shrunk USDA by 20,000 employees about a year and a half ago. Once that work finished, I pivoted them to this work, and what they have been able to find and uncover is remarkable.”
She proudly stated, “We have now, Alex, moved almost 6 million people off of SNAP in just a year and a half. We’ve gone from 43, 44 million to right over 35, 36 million.”
Rollins concluded with a strong message: “Welfare to work, no more illegal aliens, and no more fraud. I mean, this is what the president promised the people.”
