A top Agriculture Department watchdog warned Congress on Thursday that fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has allowed individuals linked to terrorist groups, foreign adversaries and transnational criminal organizations to access and abuse food stamps.The hearing marked the latest push by the Trump administration and House Republicans to crack down on these financial crimes and address the alleged waste, fraud and abuse in the bloated federal SNAP program."SNAP fraud is a reprehensible crime that squanders the compassion of American taxpayers who fund the program and robs from those low-income Americans who qualify for SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families," USDA Inspector General John Walk told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.GOP LAWMAKER PRESSES SNAP ADVOCATE OVER TAXPAYER-FUNDED COCA-COLA DURING HEARINGA screen inside a Family Dollar store in Chicago displays that SNAP and EBT food stamp benefits are accepted, on March 3, 2020.(Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)"Proceeds of SNAP fraud have gone to individuals linked to terrorist groups, foreign adversary nations and transnational criminal organizations," Walk testified.Republicans argued that broader access to state eligibility data could uncover billions more in improper payments and organized criminal activity, while Democrats warned the effort could be used to justify cuts to food assistance for eligible Americans.Walk, during Thursday's hearing, seemed to further feed into Republicans' concerns as he described increasingly sophisticated schemes targeting the roughly $100 billion federal food assistance program.
He said organized criminals are stealing benefits from vulnerable Americans through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card skimming, trafficking operations and identity fraud.The inspector general said the crimes leave many legitimate vulnerable recipients without money to buy food.He recounted speaking this week with a ...