The concept of helping Americans with grocery bills was introduced in the 1930’s. It was made possible by the introduction of the Federal Income Tax in 1913. It should be noted that Americans were told in 1913 that the Income Tax would only affect the top 1 to 3 percent of Americans. The program that began in the 1930’s ended in 1943 as the American economy recovered from the Depression because of World War II. Then in 1964 President Johnson supported a permanent Food Stamp program as part of the War on Poverty. So what has been the result of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.) ?
On April 22nd, The New York Post reported:
What do a university professor, a celebrity barber and a professional football player have in common?
All three bought new, six-figure luxury sports cars and lived lavish lifestyles — while collecting food stamps.
How on earth can these “welfare recipients” purchase high-end vehicles while remaining on the dole?
Thanks to a federal loophole known as Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility.
The Clinton administration manufactured this loophole, and the Obama administration supercharged it.
Currently, 43 states and Washington, DC, use BBCE to bypass federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility limits on income, assets or both.
The mechanism, based on a federal law that was meant to minimize states’ administrative costs, is simple.
State welfare agencies print up a brochure about welfare programs, or set up an informational hotline, and deem it a “benefit” under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Anyone who touches that pamphlet or receives the phone number is then treated as being “categorically eligible” for food stamps — even millionaires.
It’s fraud by design that distributes benefits intended for the truly needy to otherwise ineligible individuals, under the insidious goal of maximizing enrollment and dependency — and it works in almost every state.
Researchers from the Foundation for Government Accountability examined de-identified data on food-stamp enrollment in a single representative state.
The article lists some of the fraud that has been found so far. They have found IP addresses traced to foreign countries, including China, Mexico and Canada. More than 5,000 applicants in this state used foreign-based email addresses to apply,
The article notes:
Under 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states with high food-stamp error rates will for the first time face steep federal penalties for their inaction.
Ending the BBCE loophole will move millions of ineligible enrollees off the program and save taxpayers more than $100 billion over the next decade.
Rebuilding verification infrastructure like data cross-matches, identity checks and residency confirmation will finally give caseworkers the ability to catch EBT fraud before the benefits ever go out the door.
I am beginning to believe that we could balance the federal budge if we simply eliminate the fraud.
This is the list posted on X of the cars owned by people receiving S.N.A.P. benefits in one state:
