Category: The Hill
Trump admin drops hammer on SNAP scammers after finding 186K dead people collecting benefits
The Trump administration has plans to root out fraud in the country’s food stamp program.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides benefits to approximately 42 million Americans, costing about $100 billion in the fiscal year 2024.
‘Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends.’
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Thursday that the administration will require Americans receiving food stamps through SNAP to reapply.
Rollins told Newsmax that this effort would “make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit … that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”
Rollins explained that she sent letters to every state, requesting data on SNAP benefits. She noted that 29 states, primarily those led by Republicans, responded to the request.
She stated that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”
RELATED: Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump administration to extend pause in SNAP funding
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“That is what we’re really going to start clamping down on. Half a million are getting two [payments],” Rollins said, noting that this included data from only 29 states.
“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue-state data what we’re gonna find?” she added.
“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program,” Rollins continued.
The secretary described one instance in which an individual used the same Social Security number to obtain EBT cards in six states.
Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
She noted that President Donald Trump has made cracking down on SNAP fraud a priority, adding that 120 arrests have already been made.
It is not yet clear when beneficiaries will be required to reapply for the benefits.
“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson told The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Democrats reject ‘current policy’ — unless it pays their base
Washington’s latest fights make one thing unmistakable: Democrats shift their arguments as needed, but always in service of higher taxes, higher spending, and a bigger federal footprint. When the question earlier this year was whether to keep current tax policy and avoid a massive tax hike, Democrats fought against keeping current policy.
Now, after forcing a government shutdown, they claim they must preserve current — but temporary — Obamacare subsidies. Two opposite stances, one consistent goal: bigger government.
On taxes, ‘current policy’ doesn’t count. On spending, ‘current policy’ functions like holy writ.
Earlier this year, Congress faced a hard deadline. Lawmakers had to choose between extending the 2017 American Job Creation Act tax rates or letting them snap back to pre-2017 levels — a $4 trillion tax increase across income brackets. Republicans pushed to retain the lower rates. Democrats pushed for the tax hike.
Democrats insisted the looming deadline was Republicans’ fault and said the surge in revenue would help slow growth in deficits and debt. Republicans ultimately prevailed and passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Democrats erupted.
We all know what happened next. Less than three months later, Congress approached the September 30 deadline for annual appropriations. With negotiations still incomplete, Republicans advanced a clean, short-term extension to keep the government open. The House passed it. President Trump signaled he would sign it. Senate Democrats filibustered it.
Republicans tried over a dozen times to reopen the government. Senate Democrats blocked them every time — until this week. Their central demand: extend the temporary “emergency” premium subsidies that Democrats expanded during the pandemic. Those subsidies, scheduled to expire, broadened eligibility beyond 400% of the federal poverty line and boosted benefits for those below it. Democrats already extended them once through 2025.
Now, with the pandemic long over — President Biden signed the resolution ending it on April 10, 2023 — Senate Democrats want the emergency expansions made permanent.
The inconsistency could not be clearer.
When expiring tax law meant taxes would rise, Democrats described preventing that increase as a tax cut — even though extending the law simply kept existing policy in place. The fact that the policy had been the law for eight years meant nothing.
But when expiring pandemic-era subsidies would return Obamacare to its original structure, Democrats suddenly insist that current policy must prevail. They now treat temporary emergency expansions — linked explicitly to COVID, extended once already, disproportionately benefiting upper-income households — as untouchable programs that must become permanent.
On taxes, “current policy” doesn’t count. On spending, “current policy” functions like holy writ.
RELATED: Trump officially ends ‘pathetic’ Democrats’ record-breaking shutdown
Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The reasoning shifts, but the outcome never does: Democrats always land on whatever argument leads to more government. Their broader shutdown demands confirm it — ending Medicaid reforms and restoring spending levels President Trump and Republicans reduced. Every item points in the same direction: more federal dollars out the door.
Democrats note that Republicans, too, support keeping some expiring policies. True. Which makes the underlying purpose even more important to identify.
Republicans fought to maintain 2017 tax levels so Americans could keep more of what they earn — and keep that income out of Washington’s hands. Democrats want permanent expansion of Obamacare subsidies to preserve and grow benefits for people who were never intended to receive them, locking in a larger federal role.
Future fights will come; today’s climate guarantees them. One more thing is just as guaranteed: Democrats’ arguments will continue to change as needed, and their demands for higher taxes, higher spending, and a larger federal government will not.
EXCLUSIVE: Becerra says investigators didn’t inform him of full case against former staff
(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — Former Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said he didn’t have a full understanding of the case against his former chief of staff and others until it became public knowledge earlier this week. Becerra sat down for an exclusive interview with Inside California Politics’ Nikki Laurenzo…
Fetterman shares photo of face injuries after fall, hospitalization
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Saturday shared pictures of his face after being hospitalized for injuries tied to a fall. “20 stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home with @giselefetterman and the kids. I’m overwhelmed + profoundly grateful for all the well-wishes. Truly,” the lawmaker wrote in a statement on X. “Grateful for…
Trump muddles his populist message, worrying supporters
President Trump’s supporters are worried he is muddling his populist message as Republicans seek to keep the party base together going into the midterm election year. This week, Trump faced an uproar from his most faithful MAGA supporters when he defended the H-1B visas and inviting foreign students to come study in the U.S. Conservative…
Maher troll Trump after Epstein file dump: ‘I feel like I’ve seen this movie four times’
Comedian Bill Maher mused on Friday over the release of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s files on mocking President Trump’s quips about interacting with the deceased financier. “We can get back to the important business of government reading a dead pervert’s emails,” Maher said during a Friday episode of HBO’s “Real Time.” “We’re doing this…
Border Patrol operations start in Charlotte
The Trump administration has expanded its immigration crackdown to Charlotte, N.C., by sending border patrol agents to the Democratic-led city to ramp up enforcement measures. Agents have been spotted patrolling the streets in green uniforms and have staked out a local Walmart, according to recent online videos and news reports. The plans have been internally…
‘WASHED-UP IDIOT’: WH Nukes Couric Over Fetterman–Kirk Trap Question [WATCH]
![‘WASHED-UP IDIOT’: WH Nukes Couric Over Fetterman–Kirk Trap Question [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Couric-300x166.png "Couric")
Couric tried — and failed — to bait Fetterman.
Newsom Says California Will Oppose Offshore Drilling Expansion As State Relies on Iraqi Imports To Meet Energy Demands
California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) declared this week that a Trump administration proposal to expand oil drilling off the coast of his state is “Dead on arrival.” His opposition comes as California relies on imported oil from authoritarian states like Iraq and Saudi Arabia to meet its energy demand.
The post Newsom Says California Will Oppose Offshore Drilling Expansion As State Relies on Iraqi Imports To Meet Energy Demands appeared first on .
