Washington Put up requires welfare reform after Minnesota fraud scandal

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The Washington Put up editorial board known as on the Trump administration to press for "significant reform" of the nation's entitlement packages, particularly the Supplemental Diet Help Program (SNAP), after unbiased journalist Nick Shirley recently exposed over $100 million of fraud allegedly happening in Minnesota's daycare system.

In a Wednesday editorial, the outlet stated that Shirley's investigation led to Minnesota's Somali fraud scandal lastly piercing the nationwide consciousness, quipping that such a "spirit of scrupulousness would have been good a number of billion tax {dollars} in the past."

"As America’s welfare state has ballooned to greater than 80 main federal packages, they’ve grow to be a target-rich atmosphere for alleged rip-off artists like these in Minneapolis. Walz’s boondoggle underlines the necessity for critical reforms throughout America," the Post argued . "Too unhealthy that too many progressive leaders are lackadaisical at greatest about cracking down on fraud and errors, lest it curtail social providers."

CRITICS WARN MINNESOTA LEGISLATION NOW TAKING EFFECT IS SETTING UP THE 'NEXT BILLION DOLLAR FRAUD'

Fallout from Minnesota daycare fraud has prompted DHS to analyze whether or not it may possibly and will denaturalize U.S. residents of Somali descent concerned within the scheme. (Kevin Carter/Getty Photographs)

The editorial board contended that this nonchalant angle towards cracking down on fraud is "very true in relation to open-ended entitlement packages such because the Supplemental Diet Help Program."

A number of Democratic states, the Put up famous, have sued to dam the Trump administration's efforts to "root out waste and fraud" by threatening to chop off SNAP funding to states that refuse to share recipient knowledge, together with immigration standing.

The outlet added that it is nonetheless unclear whether or not the Trump administration may legally lower off the funding, and that blue states received a preliminary injunction in October which briefly blocked the request.

"The reality is that SNAP doesn’t simply assist the hungry," the Put up asserted. "It had the fourth highest fee of documented fraud throughout all federal packages from 2018 to 2022, coming in at $10.5 billion."

TRUMP TARGETS MINNESOTA FRAUD ALLEGATIONS, SAYS ‘WE’RE GOING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT’

As famous by the Put up, Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey criticized the administration's strategy, saying that President Donald Trump is "enjoying politics with the flexibility of working mother and father with youngsters, seniors and folks with disabilities to get meals."

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivers her inaugural tackle within the Home Chamber on the Statehouse moments after being sworn into workplace throughout inauguration ceremonies Jan. 5, 2023, in Boston. (Steven Senne/AP Photograph)

The outlet countered that concern by pointing to the state's personal document, noting that "Massachusetts had a 14 % error fee on SNAP funds in fiscal 12 months 2024 — the seventh highest within the nation," and that nationwide, "overpayments represented a bigger share of the error fee than underpayments."

"The tax invoice handed in July requires states with an error fee over 6 % to pay for as much as 15 % of the prices of advantages come 2028. A two 12 months buffer was put in place to present states with excessive error charges, like Alaska, additional time to get their acts collectively — however why ought to the worst offenders get particular therapy?" the editorial board questioned.

"The left claims Trump desires People to go hungry, but when a person shouldn’t be eligible for meals stamps within the first place, the place’s the cruelty in ensuring advantages go to somebody who's?"

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The Put up reiterated that whereas "states clearly must do higher jobs of vetting welfare beneficiaries," the Trump administration has an "alternative to press for significant reform."

Nevertheless, it warned that it could be a mistake to "squander it through the use of waste and fraud as an excuse to make inefficient cuts or to make use of beneficiary knowledge to gasoline a mass deportation campaign."

After Shirley’s video alleging rampant fraud in Minnesota’s daycare system went viral, the Put up stated that the Trump administration used the momentum to justify freezing all childcare funds to the state. The outlet warned that absolutely eliminating the protection web would "damage extra than simply fraudsters."

President Donald Trump arrives to talk at a marketing campaign occasion Dec.19, 2025, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (AP Photograph/Alex Brandon)

As an alternative of freezing all childcare funds to the state, the editorial board stated that the federal authorities ought to "champion reforms that incentivize extra accountable spending, reminiscent of block grants," arguing that by providing a hard and fast quantity of funding, "Washington may encourage states to spend extra fastidiously and vet recipients extra totally."

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"Social security nets crumble when most taxpayers really feel like welfare cash goes to undeserving folks. The aim of entitlements is to not spend as a lot as potential. It's to verify the actually weak get the assistance they want with out changing into depending on authorities handouts. Scrutinizing meals stamp rolls is a small step in that route," the Put up concluded.