The war on fraud’s coming food fight

The Department of Agriculture is preparing a rule to end a major driver of welfare fraud. Thanks to a regulatory loophole that s existed since the Clinton years, middle- and upper-class Americans have been getting on food stamps, despite not qualifying for the low-income program. Yet once the administration rolls back this fraud-by-design, Democrats and their media allies will immediately claim that Donald Trump is kicking up to a million kids off federally funded school lunches. Americans deserve to know: This is false, and not a single child will go hungry.

If it seems confusing that a regulation on food stamps also affects school lunches, welcome to the mess that is modern welfare. The federal government allows states to let people obtain food stamps even if they exceed the program s income or asset requirements — a policy known as broad-based categorical eligibility. These wealthier people simply have to receive a different benefit, even something as silly as a taxpayer-funded brochure. As a result, millionaires have been able to get on food stamps. My organization estimates that 5.9 million ineligible people are enrolled in the program via this loophole.

But the abuse doesn t end with food stamps. Federal rules also say that children automatically qualify for the National School Lunch Program if their families receive benefits like food stamps. In other words, the children of Americans making six or seven figures have a backdoor way to eat for free or reduced price at public schools. The abuse of taxpayer generosity has cascaded across multiple programs.