Oregon gets $5 million Bonus for issuing Food Stamps

Oregon gets $5 million Bonus for issuing Food Stamps

This week officials in Oregon reported that the USDA has given the state $5 million in “performance bonuses” for signing up people eligible for food benefits and its “swift processing of applications.” This money is in addition to the 1.5 million award for making “accurate payments of food stamp benefits to clients.” Clients, really? Could this be why the number of food-stamp beneficiaries in Oregon has increased dramatically in the last few years? Since 2008 the state has seen a 60% boost in the number of food-stamp recipients, which means that more than 780,000 people (one out of five Oregonians) get groceries compliments of Uncle Sam.

This marks the fifth year in a row that Oregon has been “recognized” by the Fed's for “exceptional administration” of the entitlement program, according to the article posted on the states Department of Human Services website. The state official who runs SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) assures that her staff will “continue working very hard to exceed expectations” so that Oregonians can “put healthy foods on their table quickly.”

And if that isn't bad enough for you, they are also giving the state a two-year grant to test an new program to further streamline the process of getting food-stamps to their "clients" This will make it even easier for people to get food stamps because it grants state officials a waiver that allows them to grant the benefit without even interviewing the candidate.

This sounds like a great opportunity for even more fraud in the ever expanding universe of entitlement spending. Will we ever be able to get this under control?

Cheers,

Mike