“This morning we turn our attention to the Food Stamp Program – the largest of our food assistance programs.    The Food Stamp Program provides a safety net for millions of people.  In fiscal year 1997, the program served about 23 million recipients at a cost to the Federal government of over $21 billion.  The oversight of this program is among this Committee’s greatest responsibilities.  The Food Stamp Program plays a vital role in decreasing hunger in the United States.  Ensuring the integrity of the program is necessary to maintain public support and to safeguard taxpayers’ dollars.

 “The Food Stamp Program has undergone major changes since the passage of welfare reform.  Among the most important changes were those toughening the penalties for individuals who intentionally defraud the program.  The welfare reform law doubled the disqualification period for most intentional program violations.  Some violations receive an even stiffer penalty; for instance, the law states that if an individual is found to be receiving benefits in more than one location, that individual will be disqualified for a period of ten years.  Although the Department of Agriculture and the States have systems in place to detect fraud and abuse, the General Accounting Office has noted in recent reports that some violations are going undetected.

 “In response to last year’s GAO report showing that prisoners were being counted as members of food stamp households, Congress passed legislation requiring states to establish a computer matching system to compare food stamp rolls with prisoner data.  During the course of the debate, we learned that the Social Security Administration has the capability to do these matches.

 “At my request, the GAO has looked into other ineligible individuals who may be counted as members of food stamp households, allowing millions of taxpayer dollars to be paid out illegally.  GAO recently released a report showing that deceased individuals are also being counted as members of food stamp households.  The report noted that again, the Social Security Administration has a database that would allow matches of the food stamp rolls to deceased individuals.  The report indicated that one branch of the Federal government has data that could prevent another branch of the Federal government from paying out millions of Federal dollars illegally.  I am troubled that the two branches of government are not working together for the integrity of the programs and the good of the American taxpayer.  I have introduced legislation to make certain that inter-governmental cooperation happens.”