Some recipients of food stamps may be delighted to hear that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) overpaid about 10 percent of benefits, according to The Daily Caller. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) erroneously overpaid 9.84 percent of benefits in 2022 compared with 6 percent in 2019, according to their data.
But some states had an exorbitantly high error rate. Idaho overpaid by nearly 22 percent, Maryland by 35 percent, and Alaska by nearly 57 percent, which marked the highest number of all time. The House Committee on Agriculture issued a statement in response to the error rates.
The signatories, Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, Ranking Member David Scott, Senator John Boozman, and Senator Debbie Stabenow stated that the rates are “unacceptable and threatens the integrity” of SNAP. They then called on governors and officials to address the root causes of the errors so that they are held accountable to the taxpayer. They added that they need to make sure that the benefits are going to those who are in need.
The program reportedly helps around 41 million Americans with an estimated $230 per month. The Government Accountability Office projected that the errors have cost around $247 billion but noted that the exact number is not known. In a report from Open the Books, $528 billion was erroneously paid by the federal government during Biden’s first two years. In 2022, that number was $247 billion, which amounts to a little over $20 billion a month.
However, the government reportedly identified where it went wrong, and out of nearly $52 billion that it identified, $23 billion was “recaptured” through audits and other “recovery activities.” But in addition to wasteful spending, the Biden administration also reportedly gave states an additional $6 billion to advance “racial equity” in food stamps.
