USDA Secretary Rollins promised “structural changes” to SNAP this week amid concerns about widespread fraud in the program. Major reforms to SNAP’s financing model cannot be made without Congress, but USDA can help enforce the program’s eligibility standards by closing a loophole that has allowed millionaires, lottery winners, and households with six-figure assets to receive SNAP benefits through regulation.

In a recent blog post titled The SNAP Loophole that Lets Millionaires Receive Food Stamps, the director of Budget and Entitlement Policy at the Cato Institute, Romina Boccia, writes:

“A clear example is SNAP’s Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE), which lets states bypass the program’s asset limits and extend benefits to households with substantial financial resources.

But the best way to ensure that taxpayer-funded nutritional aid—if it is to exist at all—goes to the truly needy is for Washington to devolve control over programs like SNAP to the states and have them assume financial accountability for the programs they choose to design.”

To speak with Romina about the SNAP program, you can contact Christopher Tarvardian.