Executive Order May Signal Administration’s Continued Effort to Block Basic Needs Assistance

On March 16, President Trump signed an executive order convening a task force on fraud, potentially signaling further efforts by the Administration to block and impede assistance for food, health care, and other basic needs based on unsubstantiated claims of misspending. Targeting states with Democratic leadership or that are otherwise disfavored by the Administration with more funding freezes would harm families who need the support to afford the basics amid rising costs and massive cuts to food assistance and health care in the Republican megabill last year.

The order requires federal agencies involved in “federal benefit programs” to propose new fraud control measures within 30 days, the task force to coordinate efforts to adopt “minimum” requirements within 60 days, and agencies to submit “measurable” implementation plans to the task force within 90 days. The agencies covered by this order oversee a sweeping breadth of programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, child care, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, SNAP and other nutrition programs, housing, unemployment insurance, student grants and loans, and tax credits for working families.

While the executive order calls for action on a number of anti-fraud strategies that federal and state agencies are already implementing, such as data sharing and audits, it also raises some significant concerns.

First, the EO directs the task force to recommend “any ways that federal funds may be withheld from jurisdictions that do not have adequate anti-fraud requirements.” The courts have already interceded repeatedly to stop the Trump Administration from blocking federal funds to states with Democratic leadership, often based on groundless accusations of widespread fraud. This task force could push for additional efforts to freeze or withhold funds from states by simply deeming that they have not met a new task force recommendation, with little, if any, substantive reasoning or recourse for impacted states beyond the courts (which could still check such actions against statutory requirements related to program funding).

Second, the EO complains about a lawsuit filed by over 20 states to prevent the federal government from requiring states to provide confidential information about people applying for or receiving SNAP food assistance under the threat of losing federal funding. (The courts have rejected the Department of Agriculture’s attempts to halt funding under this effort.) Such efforts by the Administration to force states to give the federal government personal information about program beneficiaries and their family members puts highly sensitive data about tens of millions of people at risk of unauthorized use or disclosure and are designed to advance the Trump Administration’s harsh and chaotic immigration dragnet, not to reduce fraud.

Third, states are being threatened with enormous new costs from the SNAP and Medicaid cuts in the Republican megabill, and there are already signs that is leading to eligible people losing assistance. Additional funding threats will likely lead states to create even more red tape and bureaucratic hurdles that keep eligible families from accessing needed food, health, housing, and other assistance.

It also seems the Trump Administration’s focus on fraud is selective and sporadic. Firing inspectors general (IG) in many agencies and cutting back on IG staff suggests a clear lack of commitment to routing out fraud, as does slashing the IRS staff who are responsible for combatting tax fraud among wealthy individuals and businesses.

Evidence of fraud should be addressed through fair methods that stop misspending. But the Trump Administration seems more interested in weaponizing fraud as a pretext to increase red tape for and likely strip benefits from eligible people, attack blue states, and scapegoat immigrants.

With people across the country struggling with rising costs, the Administration shouldn’t use fraud as an excuse to make it harder for families to afford the basics.