Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers are spearheading legislation to curb food-stamp fraud by limiting the balances recipients can accumulate.
State Representative Ann Flood (R-Pen Argyl) (pictured above, right) is drafting a bill requiring the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) to request a federal waiver allowing the commonwealth to cap the benefits a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) user can amass. State Representative Kerry Beninghoff (R-Bellefonte) (pictured above, left) has meanwhile begun preparing a resolution asking the Biden administration to set such limits itself. Currently, the federally funded but state administered entitlement does not require those who draw SNAP benefits to spend them in order to remain eligible for them.
“Although the state’s role is to administer these federal benefits on behalf of the federal government, states have a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars, regardless of source, are being spent appropriately,” Flood wrote in a description of her measure. “If dollars are going unspent, then those funds should be reallocated to other areas of need.”
Flood (pictured above, right) and Benninghoff (pictured above, left) cite findings of the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General (OIG) which investigated high balances accumulated in 20 SNAP accounts in 2013. The OIG alleged six of those beneficiaries potentially committed fraud.
The two representatives further recall media reporting last week indicating over $400 million in federal nutrition assistance to Pennsylvania’s 1.9 million beneficiary families went unspent in April. Some recipients had balances in excess of $10,000. This state of affairs, Flood and Benninghoff reasoned, demands state action.
“The failure by the federal government to provide appropriate accountability measures to its programs that proactively prevent fraud and abuse should not stop Pennsylvania from enacting and encouraging program integrity measures,” Benninghoff wrote regarding his legislation.
Elizabeth Stelle, director of policy analysis at the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation, said most food-stamp abuse happens when retailers illegally buy Pennsylvanians’ SNAP benefits for cash. A 2019 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office underscored that problem, determining that $1 billion in food-stamp aid is improperly trafficked each year nationwide. Most recently in Pennsylvania, owners of the Gurung Brothers store in Pittsburgh pleaded guilty last year to using $5,000 in SNAP benefits to move non-qualifying, non-food items.
Still, Stelle said, the state should take steps to inhibit individual food-stamp fraud.
“I think [Flood and Benninghoff are] highlighting a problem with the growing size of our SNAP population,” she explained. “When assistance programs like SNAP are growing year after year, that’s not a sign of success; that’s a sign that something is wrong — something is wrong in our economy, something is wrong with our government programs. And so I think they’re right to raise concern.”
Stelle said benefit-balance caps are one sensible solution, though an even more helpful policy would be tightening SNAP work requirements so those currently dependent on government get on a path toward self-sufficiency.
“That’s where the real transformative policy change could happen and that does not require us getting additional approval from Washington, D.C.,” she said.
Earlier this session, State Senator David Argall (R-Mahanoy City) introduced three bills in his chamber designed to curb SNAP fraud.
One would require DHS to check Medical Assistance and SNAP records against death certificates to ensure residents aren’t availing themselves of dead beneficiaries’ allotments. Another would direct the department to compare earnings records against recipients’ SNAP allocations. Argall’s third bill would instruct DHS to report the number of food-stamp applicants who claimed lottery winnings of at least $600 and to state how many applicants were denied aid as a result of their winnings.
All three Argall bills passed the Republican-run Senate this month with the support of only one Democrat, State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem). The measures await consideration of the narrowly Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ann Flood” by Ann Flood. Photo “Kerry Beninghoff” by Kerry Beninghoff. Background Photo “Pennsylvania State Capitol” by Kumar Appaiah. CC BY-SA 2.0.
