The US Department of Agriculture has spent the past week notifying people that the country is (allegedly) overrun by individuals who are fraudulently claiming SNAP benefits, while (allegedly) driving luxury vehicles.
“In just ONE state, 14,000 individuals receiving SNAP benefits were driving LUXURY VEHICLES!” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins posted on X last week. The official USDA account made similar claims, which were then amplified by figures like Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Rand Paul.
Those numbers are questionable at best. For one thing, the report they come from doesn’t name the state where thousands of people are allegedly buying Ferraris while using government money to buy food. For another, that report doesn’t include any explanation of its methodology.
And if there is widespread food stamp fraud I am willing to bet 1k that it comes from Republicans.
A decade back I had a coworker tell me about her white upper middle class brother in law serving time in prison for benefit fraud. I literally cannot stress to you enough how many of these people think it’s ok to lie on government forms to get more money.
They’re deep in the lying and cheating game. They absolutely are speaking from experience. Remember the PPP loans?