From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

"Blue states feeding taxpayers to food-stamp wolves"
"Report confirms Michigan residents doled out $4 million to out-of-state recipients"

<https://www.wnd.com/2026/06/blue-states-feeding-taxpayers-food-stamp-
wolves/>

"President Trump has put states on the hook for waste, fraud, and abuse
in the nation's food stamps, known officially as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Landmark legislation signed by the president
last year requires the states to pay a share of the program's costs if
more than 6% of their food-stamp outlays are spent in error. States
controlled by Democrats are, by and large, the worst offenders. For
anyone who has followed the burgeoning and massive welfare fraud scandals
in Minnesota and California, this trend is no surprise. And if my home
state of Michigan is any indication, these deep blue states aren't nearly
as serious as they should be about rooting out fraud and protecting
taxpayers.

That's my conclusion after digging into food stamp fraud in Michigan.
Under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the state refuses to share food-stamp data
with the Trump administration, so I sought information through public-
records requests. I discovered that the state has tolerated the blatant
abuse of this taxpayer-funded program by people who don't even live in Michigan.

According to state and local records, over the past three years, Michigan
has paid more than $4 million in food-stamp funding to people with out- of-state addresses. State law requires food-stamp recipients to live in
the state, for obvious reasons. It's one thing to let Michigan residents
use their food-stamps across state lines u many people live near the
borders with Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It's another thing entirely to
pay money to people who don't even live in Michigan.

Michigan officials have known about this problem for years, yet they've allowed this theft of government services to grow worse over time. In
2024, the state sent $1.6 million to out-of-state addresses, rising to
$1.9 million in 2025. Last year, Michigan sent this money to 3,177 out- of-state addresses. Based on data from the first three months of this
year, that number should reach 3,700 by the end of 2026.

In other words, Michigan food-stamp fraud is going in the wrong direction
u despite the new federal law that incentivizes the state to right-size
the program. Nearly 10% of all food-stamp funding in Michigan is spent in error, and without a change in direction, state taxpayers will be forced
to cover $300 million of the program's funding over the next year and a
half. An obvious way to lower the state's error rate would be to stop
sending food stamp money out of state.

But Michigan has made no meaningful moves in that direction. The state is spending $16 million to upgrade the debit cards that food-stamp
recipients use, which means people outside the state will simply get
better cards when they should get no cards. State officials also tout a
new $30 million splurge to reduce erroneous spending, but through records requests, I've found that much of this money is going to state ad
campaigns and private political consultants.

These efforts may reduce fraud at the margins, but what Michigan really
needs is better monitoring and enforcement for out-of-state spending. On
June 3, the Republicans who control the state House of Representatives
passed a bill to that effect. The legislation would suspend a food-stamp account if it's used out-of-state for more than 90 consecutive days. This
is a basic anti-fraud measure, yet there's no indication that the Democrat-controlled Senate has any intention of taking it up. Senate
Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, a Democrat from Grand Rapids, didn't
respond to a request for comment about the bill. Nor has Gov. Whitmer
said anything about the bill or the broader issue.

The unfortunate conclusion is that Michigan isn't serious about rooting
out waste or fraud. The same is largely true for other blue states. California's erroneous food-stamp spending is higher than Michigan's; so
is New York's, at more than 14%, and Massachusetts as well. Tamping down
such widespread abuse of taxpayer money will take enormous effort and
years of work. That work should have begun long ago, and certainly after
Trump put states on the financial hook with his reform last year. Alas,
as Michigan shows, Democratic states are set to feed taxpayers to the food-stamp wolves"
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