What would you say if I told you there was a way D.C. Republicans could stop fraud, stave off losses in the midterms, and even stop terrorism? And all it would take is them doing something they should have already done?

You’d probably say, “full-steam ahead.” Yet as of right now, the party is treading cautiously.

The issue is fraud, waste, and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The federal government spends about $100 billion on SNAP per year, but at least $10 billion of that is stolen or lost to improper payments, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) included a provision to cut this by half by giving states a choice: limit improper SNAP payments or start sharing in the cost of paying for those benefits, which are otherwise paid entirely by federal taxpayers. Rates of SNAP payment errors (ie fraud, waste, and abuse) have been climbing in recent years. The American Enterprise Institute determined that the average nationwide error rate was just over six percent in 2017, but that by 2025 it rose to 10.6 percent!

Under OBBBA, any error rate over six percent will cost the........

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