Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins declared Wednesday that the Department of Agriculture has made significant headway in its campaign against fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, touting billions of dollars in recoveries and more than 1,000 arrests over the past 18 months.
Speaking with NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich at the annual Hill Nation Summit, Rollins said the department is nearing $10 billion in identified fraud. “Within a year-and-a-half, we have found billions of dollars, we’re reaching $10 billion soon, and we’ve made 1,000 arrests,” she said.
The crackdown is part of a broader Trump administration task force led by Vice President Vance aimed at rooting out waste and abuse in federal programs. The task force has zeroed in on SNAP, the federally funded food assistance program administered by states.
Rollins noted that every Republican governor has cooperated with USDA’s anti-fraud efforts, but only two Democratic governors have done so. Meanwhile, more than 20 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., are suing the USDA over changes to SNAP eligibility, including new work requirements enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump last July.
By February, those work requirements and the elimination of certain exemptions had caused at least 3.5 million people to lose benefits, according to BenefitsUSA. Rollins defended the changes, arguing the program had been plagued by “astounding” levels of fraud that previous administrations—both Democratic and Republican—failed to address.
“From my perspective, making sure that we’re targeting those who really need the program, and who really just… not deserve the program, but need it as a leg up as a supplemental nutrition program as they’re working toward a better, high-paying job and the opportunity to not be on those programs,” Rollins told Pavlich. “That’s what we’re focused on. And I think we’re making a lot of progress.”
The administration’s focus on fraud has also extended to other agencies. In a related development, the HHS watchdog reported $5.56 billion in fraud recoveries, though exclusions dropped. Meanwhile, Vought faced House grilling over CFPB crackdown and funding freezes, highlighting the broader push against federal program abuse.
