Hard to believe the White House when it claimed it was going to crack down on mass fraud from the pandemic, namely billions in PPP loans that were illegitimate, especially when the Biden administration keeps on passing policies that all but encourage routine fraudulent behavior.
Welfare, for instance, is laden with all sorts of fraudulent activities, and perhaps one of the more important areas that the government should over-regulate rather than under-regulate.
Alas, while the government will vociferously pursue anyone online who dares to espouse conservative beliefs, it apparently can’t be bothered to have a similarly vigilant attitude towards welfare fraudsters.
On the contrary, it’s just loosened regulations even further, likely in another shameless vote-buying scheme.
As reported by Fox News, “the Biden administration has released a proposed rule that would allow low-income people to shop online for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food benefits and scrap a current requirement that these food items must be purchased in person at brick-and-mortar stores to limit fraud.”
Well, that’s nice.
Rather than showing up in person, in the store, to at least pretend to be the real welfare recipient, the White House is enabling those who exploit welfare for a living to do so from the comfort of their homes (which are also likely funded by taxpayers).
Jamie Hall, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health and Welfare Policy, indicates just how asinine the White House’s move towards encouraging online shopping is, especially in terms of heightening the chance of fraud occurring.
“The current requirement to sign the WIC voucher or enter a PIN in the presence of the cashier was intended as a fraud prevention measure,” Hall remarked wryly.
Precisely. Even then, the purchases may be fraudulent, especially if a recipient manages to nab more than one “food stamp” debit card (much in the same way multiple IDs are used for fraudulent voting), but at least a face is put to the card.
Now? Apparently anything goes. And not a word about potential fraud is in sight.
“In fact, the entire 129-page USDA proposal never uses the word ‘fraud’ even once … I would argue that USDA has not given sufficient consideration to fraud prevention and that it would be better to keep the standards within a rule and subject to public notice and comment rather than to allow them to move them into a technical guidance document that they can change as they see fit,” Hall continued in disbelief.
Of course the White House has not given “sufficient consideration” to fraud.
After all, how else did Biden achieve 81 million “votes” in his favor?
Moreover, what better way to keep his “base” happy and insulated from the impact of rapidly rising food prices than by funding their supply of food … via taxpayer money?
The USDA, on the other hand, has adopted a typically woke approach, claiming that the new measures are designed to make obtaining food “more convenient” for individuals who routinely reap the benefits of taxpayers’ hard-earned funds.
And, of course, like anything else the Democrats touch, the new and unimproved White House proposal will lead, yet again, to a massive increase in federal spending, all designed to increase dependency on the government.
“The Department estimates that allowing WIC online shopping will increase Federal WIC food spending, in the form of transfers, by a total of $392 million over 5 years. This is driven by an understanding that shoppers typically pay higher prices for online groceries and an expectation that online shopping would moderately increase WIC benefit redemption by making the WIC shopping experience more convenient for some participants,” the federal agency pompously announced.
Hey, why not? As long as taxpayers keep funding the bill, it is not at all surprising that the White House will keep on recklessly spending.
And increasing IRS surveillance to ensure it can leech every penny possible, and then some, from people who actually bother to show up to work every now and then.
Frankly, welfare spending has ballooned out of control, especially as welfare apparently attracts even more funding annually than defense spending.
As reported by Lexington Law, trillions have been expended in the past couple of years.
“In 2021, the federal government spent nearly $1.5 trillion on welfare programs in the United States … In 2022, $1.3 trillion is projected to be spent on welfare programs in the United States,” the outlet noted.
Aside from free food, a number of welfare recipients apparently receive free housing as well.
“Housing assistance programs are projected to cost $81 billion in 2022, up from $60 billion in 2021,” Lexington Law continued.
Right.
Such an increase could likely be attributed to the ongoing “rent moratoriums” due to COVID, which California apparently just can’t quit, despite a massive deficit looming on the horizon.
Lexington Law also noted that welfare spending dwarfs military spending, which, given the current state of affairs, is a tad problematic, to put it very mildly.
“While general welfare spending is overshadowed by spending on healthcare ($1.6 trillion), it does cost more than national defense ($1.1 trillion) in the estimated 2022 annual federal budget … In 2022, welfare programs will account for around 22 percent of all federal spending,” Lexington Law continued.
Furthermore, a significant percentage of welfare recipients apparently blew off taxpayer-funded education in exchange for taxpayers taking care of them for life.
In data directly sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 30 percent of individuals who benefit handsomely from “select social safety net benefits” do not have a high school diploma.
Meanwhile, individuals who bothered to get an education, or, at bare minimum, a job, are left to fund others who do little more than woke virtue signaling and/or violent “protesting” … day in, day out.
Author: Jane Jones
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