The Trump Administration Says It’s Cracking Down On Fraud. It Gave A Red State A Pass. | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to close down federal welfare spending in Democratic states over fraud instances in Minneapolis, proclaiming it the federal government’s responsibility “to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure these programs serve the families they were created to help.”

But the identical administration let Republican-led Mississippi off the hook final 12 months for one of many greatest welfare fraud scandals of all time.

Shortly earlier than President Joe Biden left workplace, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families levied a $100 million penalty in opposition to Mississippi for permitting fraudsters to embezzle funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The penalty mirrored the estimated measurement of the fraud.

But the Trump administration reversed the choice in April after the Mississippi Department of Human Services stated it uncovered data that would validate a few of its allegedly improper spending, rescinding the penalty, and telling the state it will “issue a new penalty letter at the appropriate time.” Eight months later, no new letter has been despatched.

In a press release on Monday, a spokesperson for HHS instructed HuffPost the ACF is “evaluating options to follow up with Mississippi.”

The deliberative back-and-forth between Mississippi and the federal authorities stands in stark distinction to the preemptive funding cutoff the Trump administration introduced final week for a number of Democratic-led states. It calls into query whether or not the administration’s professed want to stamp out fraud has extra to do with politics than good governance.

In response to the fraud scandal in Minnesota — which incorporates dozens of well-documented and prosecuted legal instances along with unproven allegations by a right-wing YouTuber — HHS introduced a wholesale cutoff of funding beneath the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, in addition to two different federal packages that assist with little one care. And not simply in Minnesota, but additionally within the blue states of California, Colorado, Illinois and New York.

“There’s certainly a disparate effect here, in terms of these five blue states and that one particular red state,” Nick Gwyn, an knowledgeable on federal-state welfare packages with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, instructed HuffPost.

On Friday, a federal choose put a brief maintain on the funding freeze. Child care suppliers have instructed HuffPost the freeze might drive them to put off workers and switch youngsters away.

The Mississippi TANF scandal drew nationwide consideration as a result of one of many recipients of the improper funds was former NFL star Brett Favre, who was not charged with against the law and has maintained he had no thought it wasn’t OK for him to obtain the cash.

The broad outlines of the Mississippi and Minnesota instances are comparable. The means TANF and plenty of different federal social service packages work is that states get funds from the federal authorities, then situation grants to nonprofits that present the precise providers, comparable to diet and little one care, to low-income households. Lawmakers promoted the grant scheme as an alternative choice to giving cash on to poor individuals.

In Mississippi and Minnesota, nonprofits took cash with out offering providers. Six individuals have been charged with crimes in Mississippi and the state filed civil complaints in opposition to others for mishandling funds.

During congressional testimony in 2024Favre complained that the scandal wrecked his repute although he’d carried out nothing incorrect and gave again the cash he’d improperly acquired.

“I have learned that nobody was or is watching how TANF funds are spent,” he stated. “States have too much flexibility in how they spend this money.”