Dr. Michael Savage, the host of Newsmax’s “Savage Nation,” said fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is “out of control,” as tens of billions of dollars in food stamp spending are being lost every year to abuse and political negligence.
Savage, the author of “A Savage Republic,” drew on his experience as a New York City welfare investigator in the 1960s to tell Newsmax’s “Sunday Agenda” that abuse of government benefits is not new.
“The people on welfare were living better than I, a college graduate, was living,” he recalled, saying he slept on a mattress on the floor while being ordered to write large checks so clients could furnish their apartments.
When he protested a $7,000 furniture payment for a welfare recipient, Savage said his supervisor told him, “Just keep writing the checks. That’s the way it’s done.”
Pivoting to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, Savage said the system has expanded, as has the fraud with it.
He noted that about 42 million people receive SNAP and cited figures approaching $100 billion in annual spending.
“They’re ripping the system off in 10 different ways,” he said, listing schemes such as selling benefits to retailers and individuals, card skimming, falsifying eligibility, multiple applications, and even government worker theft.
Savage reacted to comments from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, who told Newsmax last week that about 186,000 dead people are still receiving checks and roughly a half-million people are getting double benefits.
He said that kind of waste is baked into the structure.
“Systems are set up to be defrauded by people who will defraud systems. It’s the politicians,” he said, adding that Democrats fought President Donald Trump on reopening the government unless SNAP benefits were fully restored.
He also attacked the language used for government aid.
“The word benefits itself is very interesting. What do you mean, benefits? Most of them didn’t earn these benefits,” Savage said.
He also claimed that many recipients “haven’t worked” and accused “massive numbers of illegal immigrants” of receiving SNAP without contributing to the system.
Instead of electronic benefit transfer cards, Savage urged a return to direct food distribution, pointing to the huge volume of edible food that supermarkets throw away for labeling or dating reasons.
“Give them the food,” he said. “They don’t have to get a card and then fraudulently use that card.”
Citing examples from Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Fresno, California, Savage said corrupt retailers and middlemen have stolen millions by swapping EBT credits for cash.
He also highlighted a Minnesota case involving a Somali restaurant owner convicted in a $250 million federal child nutrition fraud, and suggested that some of the proceeds of welfare scams may flow back to politicians through illicit donations.
“The country, after all these years of a welfare state, it’s very, very difficult to straighten out overnight,” Savage said.
He added that Trump “has a big job on his hands” and urged viewers to pray that at least some of the fraud can be stopped.
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