SNAP payment error and fraud rates have alarmed U.S. lawmakers and further fueled the food stamp spending fight, central to writing the new farm bill. The total SNAP fiscal year 2022 error rate of 11.5% prompted bipartisan response from the four Ag panel leaders, who called it ?unacceptable? and a threat to SNAP?s integrity.
Iowa?s Joni Ernst complained at an earlier Senate Ag hearing that SNAP fraud rates are also shockingly high.
USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Deputy Undersecretary Stacy Dean blamed the pandemic and staffing shortages for reduced oversight.
FNS says Congress dropped the requirement?now resumed–for states to do quality control reviews during the pandemic. In the meantime, GOP lawmakers argue FNS abused its authority to expand SNAP by a quarter of a trillion dollars during the pandemic. USDA says it did what Congress allowed.
The Congressional Budget Office now projects nutrition costs will consume more than 80 percent of the next farm bill, or 1.2 trillion dollars, forcing a reckoning over SNAP?s cost. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst.
The issues of SNAP payment error and fraud rates is giving more fuel to the fight over a GOP push to expand farm bill SNAP work requirements but could lead to bipartisan support for efforts to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the food stamp program.
