
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 18, 1994                   TAG: 9407180069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FOOD STAMP FRAUD TOPS $1.8 BILLION

Thousands of Americans pocketed more than $1.8 billion in food stamp benefits they were not entitled to receive last year - a record loss that the Agriculture Department blames on mistakes and fraud.

In a letter to key members of Congress, the Agriculture Department said that 8.29 percent of all food stamp benefits went to people who were ineligible or collected more than they were entitled to receive.

At the same time, thousands of low-income people were denied benefits totaling $559 million because of mistakes made in running one of the federal government's largest and most expensive welfare programs.

Food stamp benefits, which totaled $22 billion in 1993, help 28 million people a year to buy groceries.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service said fraud and mistakes by welfare recipients and state and local welfare caseworkers quickly add up to large amounts of money.

According to the department, food stamp recipients may inadvertently or deliberately provide incorrect information about their incomes or assets, while complex and inconsistent rules governing food stamps and other welfare programs may confuse some workers and lead to mistakes.

To estimate food stamp overpayment and underpayment rates, states review a sample of food stamp households to determine how accurately benefits are issued. USDA then checks a sample of those reviews and calculates a nationwide error rate.

The department said difficult economic conditions and rising caseloads in many areas have created problems for states and may account for the increase in errors from 1992, when mistakes cost the food stamp program $1.7 billion in overpayments and $500 million in underpayments.

In some states, the number of welfare caseworkers has fallen while the number of people seeking assistance has mushroomed, USDA's letter notes.

"You've got a situation where waste and abuse is up, according to their numbers, and the number of fraud investigators is down - and that is really an ominous mix," said Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and the chairman of a House subcommittee on regulation.

Wyden said the growth in food stamp fraud and errors could damage the Clinton administration's efforts to reform the welfare system with a $9.3 billion package of education, training, day care and work programs.

by CNB