If there’s any good that’s come from the government shutdown, it’s exposing all the fraud being committed to exploit the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
To be sure, there are millions of needy Americans who were hurting from being deprived of SNAP as they tried to support children and keep their families from going hungry. This is not about them. This is about the other people — the individuals who dip into this program unjustly at the expense of the taxpayer.
Just the News reported that Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Steven Vaden has indicated his agency is engaging in data collection relating to SNAP across several states to see where funds for the program are going.
So far, what he’s uncovered is not promising.
Vaden cited an instance of one individual getting SNAP in six separate states.
Another person had over $50,000 loaded onto their electronic benefits card.
EBT cards work like credit cards for anyone getting government assistance, with funds rolling over to the following month.
Clearly something is amiss.
As Vaden put it, “The taxpayers have a right to know what is being done with their money and that, when we have appropriations, we are spending more than nine billion a month.”
Do people who can’t hold down a job deserve monthly welfare payments?
On the case of a $50,000 card, Vaden clarified, “[Taxpayers] especially have a right to rest assured that only those who truly need are benefitting from the program, because every dollar you give to someone who has a balance of more than $15,000 on their EBT card cannot go to someone who is truly in need.”
SNAP fraud gets worse when considering recent comments by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on “The Ingraham Angle.”
Over 500,000 people were found to have been taking SNAP benefits twice, with 5,000 dead people receiving it.
INSANE: Sec. Brooke Rollins reveals 500,000 people are receiving SNAP benefits two times under the same name, and 5,000 dead people are still on the program.
She says a massive announcement is coming next week on the plan to crack down on this scandal.
“Half a million people… pic.twitter.com/pC4OXgxKOY
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 13, 2025
This has only been in last few days.
The uncomfortable truth is that this fraud has to go deeper.
If the Trump administration is truly concerned about saving the American people money, they’ve got to make the appropriate reductions, and that includes SNAP.
Democrats’ rhetoric around this issue boiled down to Trump and Republicans letting millions of needy people starve.
Putting aside that the recent shutdown was perpetuated by that party, recent findings fly in the face of that narrative.
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