WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to close down federal welfare spending in Democratic states over fraud circumstances in Minneapolis, proclaiming it the federal government’s obligation “to guard taxpayer {dollars} and guarantee these packages serve the households they have been created to assist.”
However the identical administration let Republican-led Mississippi off the hook final 12 months for one of many largest welfare fraud scandals of all time.
Shortly earlier than President Joe Biden left workplace, the Division of Well being and Human Providers’ Administration for Youngsters and Households levied a $100 million penalty towards Mississippi for permitting fraudsters to embezzle funds from the federal Non permanent Help for Needy Households program. The penalty mirrored the estimated dimension of the fraud.
However the Trump administration reversed the choice in April after the Mississippi Division of Human Providers stated it uncovered information that would validate a few of its allegedly improper spending, rescinding the penalty, and telling the state it will “situation a brand new penalty letter on the acceptable time.” Eight months later, no new letter has been despatched.
In a press release on Monday, a spokesperson for HHS informed HuffPost the ACF is “evaluating choices to observe 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 announced last week for several Democratic-led states. It calls into query whether or not the administration’s professed need 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 circumstances along with unproven allegations by a right-wing YouTuber — HHS introduced a wholesale cutoff of funding below the Non permanent Help for Needy Households program, in addition to two different federal packages that assist with little one care. And never simply in Minnesota, but in addition within the blue states of California, Colorado, Illinois and New York.
“There’s definitely a disparate impact right here, by way of these 5 blue states and that one specific pink state,” Nick Gwyn, an knowledgeable on federal-state welfare packages with the liberal Middle on Price range and Coverage Priorities, informed HuffPost.
On Friday, a federal choose put a temporary hold on the funding freeze. Little one care suppliers have told HuffPost the freeze may pressure them to put off employees 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 a criminal offense 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 circumstances are related. The way in which 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 companies, akin 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 companies. Six individuals have been charged with crimes in Mississippi and the state filed civil complaints towards others for mishandling funds.
Throughout congressional testimony in 2024, Favre complained that the scandal wrecked his repute regardless that he’d performed nothing unsuitable and gave again the cash he’d improperly obtained.
“I’ve discovered that no person was or is watching how TANF funds are spent,” he stated. “States have an excessive amount of flexibility in how they spend this cash.”
