Governor’s Attempt To Find Massive Welfare Fraud Turns Up Next To Nothing

[xchrom]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-welfare/



On Tuesday, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) released data on purchases made with state welfare benefits that he claimed exposed abuse, but they only add up to less than a percent of all benefit transactions.

The data show that there were more than 3,000 transactions at bars, sports bars, and strip clubs made with EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards loaded with TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or welfare) and food stamp benefits between January 1, 2011 and November 15, 2013. The state doesn’t track what was actually purchased, and some transactions can be withdrawals from ATMs at those locations. Given that there are about 50,000 of these transactions every month, or nearly 1.8 million in that time frame, as the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) spokesman told the Bangor Daily News, they only make up “about two-tenths of 1 percent of total purchases and ATM withdrawals,” the paper calculates.

LePage still expressed outrage at this tiny fraction of purchases. “This information is eye-opening and indicates a larger problem than initially thought,” he wrote when the data was released. “These benefits are supposed to help families, children and our most vulnerable Mainers. Instead, we have discovered welfare benefits are paying for alcohol, cigarettes and other things that hardworking taxpayers should not be footing the bill for.” When the Bangor Daily News asked his spokeswoman about the small number of transactions, she responded, “Any amount of abuse in the system that takes away from the truly needy needs to be dealt with,” adding, “We’re not uncovering anything new. There are always going to be bad actors out there. We’re simply saying, ‘We’ve got an eye on you.’”

His spokeswoman also said that he will sponsor a bill to address issues with welfare benefits during this year’s session, including the fact that the state doesn’t track what recipients buy.

[liberal N proud]

1. Obsessed with .01% or less

This seems to be Americas obsession, the .01% that might be getting something for nothing.

Meanwhile some 1%'r is getting millions for nothing.

[jeff47]

7. Well, if they looked at it more realistically

they wouldn't have the "Welfare Queen" political weapon.

So they're going to pursue welfare fraud no matter how much it costs. Even if they only find one person.

[Shandris]

2. I could see being upset if it were a zero-sum consideration, where other people were...

...actually losing benefits if these kinds of things were used. But since its not, this sounds more like much ado over nothing. And even then, none of these were thefts/'fraud' of money necessarily; we don't know how the money was used (nor is it really necessary to).

But never miss a chance to make someone working afraid that someone else is living 'high on the hog' at their expense. How else is he to get re-elected?

[Rex]

3. Of course LePage has never missed a meal or a doctor checkup in his life.

I hate established people that believe everyone else are the problem.

[SamKnause]

4. Fraud

They are genuinely disappointed.

When they didn't find rampant drug use by welfare recipients, they were disappointed.

When they found voter fraud was almost non existent, they were disappointed.

Now they know the facts about Welfare Fraud, they are disappointed.

They will continue to push for these programs.
They will continue to waste the taxpayers money on these programs.

I question if sanity is in short supply in this country ????

[LisaLynne]

5. They repeated the whole Reagan myth of the "Welfare Queen" so much that ...

they forgot it was a bunch of crap. They started to actually believe it and thought they could prove it.

[jsr]

8. They're doing the same thing to unemployment benefits and food stamps.

[phantom power]

6. kind of like how nobody can find any actual evidence of massive voter fraud