Rerun

recurring claim

The recurring "welfare queen" claim that recipients are gaming public benefits

You're probably here because of the Mar 2026 rerun. This is the 13th time since 2016 (archive start) this story has run. The previous rerun was Dec 2025.

About this story

The "welfare queen" claim says that people on public assistance commonly cheat the system or live well off benefits. Ronald Reagan made it famous in his 1976 campaign with an exaggerated version of the case of Chicago woman Linda Taylor, saying one woman used eighty names to collect $150,000 a year. Since 2016 the claim has returned in debates over SNAP and Medicaid work requirements, in viral social-media content, and in federal "war on fraud" efforts. Audits show real fraud, but much of the large documented fraud was committed by organizations, vendors or officials rather than recipients. USDA estimated SNAP trafficking (selling benefits for cash) at about 1.6% of benefits, or about $1.27 billion a year, for 2015–2017. The Congressional Research Service says SNAP fraud is rare based on available data, but no single figure captures every type. A large, growing share of documented SNAP losses is benefits stolen from recipients through card skimming. A USDA official said this could be as high as $12 billion a year and stressed that nobody knows the true scope.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

20162026

Mar 2026 – Sep 2026 Trump's benefits fraud task force: executive order, Rollins's SNAP claim and ACA removals

On March 16, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order creating a fraud task force of benefit-paying agencies (including USDA, HHS, HUD, Labor and VA), chaired by Vice President Vance. The order says "proactively pausing certain types of funding" may be needed, and it names California, Illinois, New York, Maine, Minnesota and Colorado. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins later said nearly 700,000 SNAP "fraudsters" had been found in cooperating states, and that most blue states were shielding what USDA projects are "MILLIONS" more. On September 22, Vance announced that about 750,000 ACA marketplace enrollees would be removed for alleged fraud, saving an estimated $2.2 billion. He said the system had rewarded brokers for "enrolling fake people."

  • federalnewsnetwork.com article
    The executive order says that, in some cases, "proactively pausing certain types of funding" may be necessary until these types of controls can be put in place.
  • wjla.com article
    Most blue states are actively shielding what we project are MILLIONS of criminal fraudsters in their states
  • ABC News article
    We had a system in this country that rewarded brokers, that made people rich for enrolling fake people in programs
  • youtube.com video

Sources: federalnewsnetwork.com needs a second source · upi.com needs a second source · CNN reliable · wwlp.com needs a second source

Dec 2025 – Jan 2026 Minnesota child care fraud claims: Nick Shirley video, federal child care funding freezes, Walz drops re-election bid

On Dec. 26, 2025, YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video claiming that day care centers in Minneapolis run by Somali Americans took public child care money without caring for children. NPR reported it passed 131 million views on X by Dec. 31 and was shared by Vice President Vance and Elon Musk. HHS froze federal child care payments to Minnesota, citing the video. It then sought to hold back about $10 billion in social services funds from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. Its letters said there was "reason to believe" these states were giving benefits to "illegal aliens," but NPR said the administration offered no evidence of ongoing fraud. Fraud in Minnesota programs is documented: more than 60 people have been convicted in a years-long scandal. But state inspectors found children at eight of the nine centers in the video on Jan. 2, and NPR reported that most benefits fraud is by providers or outside scammers, and that those convicted are overwhelmingly U.S. citizens.

  • NPR article
    posted the 42-minute video on X and YouTube the day after Christmas.
  • NPR article
    freezing social services funding for five Democratic-led states
  • cbsnews.com article
    On Jan. 5, Walz announces he will not seek a third term
  • youtu.be video

Sources: NPR reliable · NPR reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · cbsnews.com reliable

Oct 2025 – Nov 2025 SNAP lapse during the shutdown: AI "welfare queen" videos

In late October 2025, USDA warned that SNAP benefits for about 42 million people would lapse on November 1 during the government shutdown. AI-generated videos of SNAP recipients then spread on TikTok, X, YouTube and Facebook. One, made with OpenAI's Sora, shows a Black woman saying she sells her benefits for cash. Futurism reported that this clip had nearly 500,000 TikTok views, and that X user Mila Joy's repost got over 1.7 million views before it was removed. Fox News ran a story that treated some of these videos as real, then rewrote it with a new headline and an editor's note. Futurism tied the videos to the Reagan-era "welfare queen" stereotype. On fraud, it cited a WLBT fact-check: 592 of Mississippi's 390,761 SNAP recipients were investigated for misuse in 2024, and about a third of those cases found fraud.

  • futurism.com article
    Imma keep it real with you, I get over $2,500 a month in stamps,
  • futurism.com article
    SNAP beneficiaries threaten to ransack stores over government shutdown

Sources: futurism.com needs a second source · futurism.com needs a second source · thebulwark.com needs a second source

May 2025 – Jul 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill" Medicaid and SNAP work requirements

On May 25, 2025, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS's "Face the Nation" that Medicaid recipients who are able to work and "refuse" are "defrauding the system" and "gaming the system." He said about 4.8 million able-bodied Medicaid recipients were "not working" and "taking advantage of the system." CBS later reported a June 4 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis: about 18.5 million enrollees would be subject to the work requirement, and roughly 4.8 million of them were projected to lose coverage because of it. In other words, the 4.8 million figure CBS reported from CBO was a projection of coverage loss, not a count of fraud. The final law, signed July 4, 2025, added work requirements for some able-bodied Medicaid adults and expanded SNAP work requirements. CMS has said that "not all improper payments represent fraud or abuse."

  • cbsnews.com article
    If you are able to work and you refuse to do so, you are defrauding the system
  • NBC News article
    The House took up the bill after the Senate voted 51-50 to pass it on Tuesday, with Vance breaking the tie.
  • cbsnews.com article
    The bill imposes work requirements for some able-bodied adults and more frequent eligibility checks.
  • youtube.com video

Sources: cbsnews.com reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · NBC News reliable · cms.gov needs a second source

Feb 2025 DOGE / Trump claims that dead people are getting Social Security

On Feb 11, 2025, Elon Musk said a DOGE "cursory examination of Social Security" found "people in there that are 150 years old." On Feb 18, President Trump said "we have millions and millions of people over 100 years old" and that "maybe millions" could be getting paid fraudulently (FactCheck.org). The audits tell a different story. A 2023 report by SSA's inspector general (the agency's internal watchdog) found 18.9 million people born in 1920 or earlier with no death date on file, but only about 44,000 of them were receiving payments. In December 2024, 89,106 people aged 99 or older received benefits (FactCheck.org). On improper payments generally, a July 2024 watchdog report put them at 0.84% ($71.8 billion) for fiscal years 2015–2022, mostly overpayments to living people, and a 2021 report found about $298 million paid to roughly 24,000 dead beneficiaries (FactCheck.org; CBS/AP). On Feb 19, acting Commissioner Dudek said the people in question "are not necessarily receiving benefits" (CBS/AP).

  • x.com social post
    Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security
  • youtube.com broadcast
    we have millions and millions of people over 100 years old
  • youtube.com video

Sources: ABC News reliable · factcheck.org reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · aei.org needs a second source

Sep 2023 GAO estimate of pandemic unemployment fraud

GAO said in September 2023 that, based on statistical sampling and imputation, fraud in pandemic unemployment insurance was "likely between $100 billion and $135 billion." That is about 11% to 15% of all such benefits paid from April 2020 to May 2023. The Department of Labor said the estimate was likely overstated, and GAO disagreed. As of May 1, 2023, states had identified $5.3 billion in fraudulent overpayments and recovered $1.2 billion. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) cited the estimate to criticize the administration's anti-fraud efforts and to push a bill on recovering fraudulent payments.

  • gao.gov statement
    Based on statistical sampling and imputation techniques, GAO estimates that the amount of fraud in unemployment insurance (UI) programs during the COVID-19 pandemic was likely between $100 billion and $135 billion.
  • govexec.com article
    These shocking estimates continue to grow, and, as GAO notes, we may never know the full scope and scale of fraudulent pandemic payments.

Sources: gao.gov needs a second source · govexec.com needs a second source

May 2023 – Jun 2023 Debt-ceiling deal expands SNAP work requirements

The Biden-McCarthy debt-ceiling deal raised the upper age for SNAP's work requirement on "able-bodied adults" without dependents from 49 to 54, phased in over the following years (Axios; Time). It exempted veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults leaving foster care. It also tightened work rules for TANF (cash welfare) but did not change Medicaid's requirements (NYT via Spokesman-Review; NBC News). McCarthy called the work requirements a win (Spokesman-Review; Rolling Stone), and Republicans said they would help people get jobs, while anti-hunger advocates cited research showing the requirements have little measurable effect on employment (NBC News; NYT). According to Axios, CBO estimated about 78,000 more people would get benefits in an average month and SNAP costs would rise about $2.1 billion over a decade (the new age limit saves $6.5 billion, the new exemptions cost $6.8 billion). Rolling Stone quoted McCarthy saying, "Instead of borrowing money from China to pay somebody to sit on the couch…" The sources record no claim that recipients were committing fraud.

  • spokesman.com article
    It increases work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and cash welfare but does not alter requirements for Medicaid.
  • NBC News article
    While Republicans say the expanded work requirements will help people get jobs, anti-hunger advocates argue that requirements should be eliminated altogether
  • rollingstone.com article
    work requirements to help people out of poverty into jobs.

Sources: spokesman.com needs a second source · NBC News reliable · Axios reliable · Time reliable

Sep 2022 – Oct 2022 Mississippi welfare (TANF) scandal and Brett Favre

A May 2020 audit by Mississippi's state auditor found the Department of Human Services wasted tens of millions in federal welfare money. A later forensic audit found more than $77 million was improperly used through the nonprofits, including on expensive cars, a private school and favored projects of celebrities and politically connected people (CNN). In September 2022, newly filed court documents showed then-Gov. Phil Bryant, Brett Favre and nonprofit founder Nancy New working to send at least $5 million in welfare funds to a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi. At the time, neither Bryant nor Favre had been charged with a crime (Mississippi Today, CNN). By October 2022, six people had been charged and five had pleaded guilty. Those named by CNN include a former DHS director, nonprofit founder Nancy New, Zach New of the nonprofit, a nonprofit accountant, and former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase, who got funds for fake work (CNN). In this case, the sources describe misuse of welfare money by officials, nonprofit leaders and politically connected figures, not by recipients. A January 2023 Clarion Ledger story citing AP research, published after this period, reported that DHS director Bob Anderson told lawmakers in October that about 90% of people who apply for TANF in Mississippi don't receive it, because their applications were denied or abandoned, and that the number of recipients fell from 24,180 in budget year 2012 to 2,880 in 2021 (Clarion Ledger via Yahoo).

  • mississippitoday.org article
    Nonprofit leaders had misspent at least $77 million in funds that were supposed to help the needy, forensic auditors found.
  • CNN article
    If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?
  • CNN article
    No one ever told me, and I did not know, that funds designated for welfare recipients were going to the University or me

Sources: CNN reliable · mississippitoday.org needs a second source · CNN reliable · Yahoo News reliable

Dec 2021 Manchin and the child tax credit "drugs" report

On Dec. 20, 2021, the day after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he would not vote for the Build Back Better bill, HuffPost reported that he had privately told fellow Democrats that parents would spend monthly child tax credit payments on drugs. HuffPost cited two sources; ABC News and NBC News, each citing three sources, reported the same thing that day. The reports also said Manchin had privately suggested people would abuse a proposed paid leave program to go hunting. HuffPost connected the concern to earlier fights over drug testing for SNAP, unemployment and TANF recipients. It reported that fewer than 1% of applicants tested positive in states with testing policies from 2011 to 2017, and that 131 applicants had tested positive under West Virginia's TANF screening since 2017. Manchin's office told ABC and NBC that he "supports the Child Tax Credit and believes the money should be targeted to those who need it most."

  • Yahoo News article
    Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children
  • ABC News article
    Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., privately questioned whether parents would misuse Child Tax Credit payments to buy drugs, according to three sources familiar with his comments.

Sources: Yahoo News reliable · ABC News reliable · NBC News reliable · cbpp.org needs a second source

Jul 2019 – Dec 2019 USDA rules to tighten SNAP eligibility (2019)

On July 23, 2019, USDA proposed limiting SNAP's "expanded categorical eligibility." Secretary Sonny Perdue said the "loophole" had "been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines" and that the change was needed for "preventing abuse." USDA estimated that 3.1 million people would no longer meet eligibility rules (AP). PolitiFact reported that when announcing the proposal, Perdue referred to Minnesota retiree Rob Undersander. Undersander had said his net worth exceeded $1 million and that he applied for food stamps in 2016 to expose the loophole. PolitiFact later rated True a congressman's claim that millionaires were eligible (not that they were receiving benefits), while noting such millionaires "may be outliers." On December 4, 2019, USDA announced a final rule narrowing state waivers from work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. USDA said the rule "restores the system to what Congress intended: assistance through difficult times, not a way of life." NACo reported USDA's projection that nearly 700,000 able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) would leave the program once the rule's carry-over limit took effect in October 2020.

  • chicago.suntimes.com article
    For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines.
  • usda.gov statement
    The rule restores the system to what Congress intended: assistance through difficult times, not a way of life.

Sources: chicago.suntimes.com needs a second source · PolitiFact reliable · naco.org needs a second source · usda.gov needs a second source

Jun 2018 – Jul 2018 Court blocks Kentucky's Medicaid work requirement

On June 29, 2018, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg cancelled the federal approval of Kentucky HEALTH. Kentucky had been the first state approved to make Medicaid recipients work or do other community activities. The plan would have required "able-bodied" recipients aged 19–64 to log 80 hours a month of work, school, job training, volunteering or caregiving. Boasberg found the approval "arbitrary and capricious" because officials never weighed coverage losses. Kentucky's own estimate was that 95,000 people would lose Medicaid. Trump administration officials said the rule gave low-income adults an incentive to enter the workforce. Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said the state's Medicaid expansion was not fiscally sustainable. On the data side, KFF Health News reported a Kaiser Family Foundation estimate: only 6% of adult Medicaid enrollees would be affected, because most already worked or qualified for an exemption.

  • kffhealthnews.org article
    This signal omission renders his determination arbitrary and capricious.
  • The Washington Post article
    the first state in the nation to require that low-income people work or otherwise engage in their communities
  • NBC News article
    cutting dental and vision coverage for nearly a half-million Kentuckians

Sources: The Washington Post reliable · The Hill reliable · kffhealthnews.org needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable

May 2018 – Jun 2018 House farm bill fight over SNAP work requirements

In May–June 2018, the House Republican farm bill sought tougher SNAP work requirements. It would have required many adult recipients to work 20 hours a week, enroll in job training, or lose benefits. Speaker Ryan said it would "encourage people to move from welfare to work" (NPR). The bill failed 198–213 on May 18, when 30 Republicans joined every Democrat in voting no (ABC News). It then passed 213–211 on June 21 with more than $20 billion in SNAP cuts over 10 years (CNBC). Republicans argued that work requirements promote self-sufficiency. Democrats called the changes cruel and said they would increase food insecurity. Existing law already had work requirements for adults aged 18–49 without dependents or a disability (NPR). What the fraud data showed: in June 2018 the USDA published an FY2017 SNAP payment error rate of 6.30%, made up of 5.19% overpayments and 1.11% underpayments. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) says this rate is "sometimes misunderstood" as a measure of fraud, and that errors are not the same as fraud. The most-cited fraud measure, the share of benefits illegally sold through stores, was 1.5% for FY2012–2014. CRS notes there is no overall rate for recipient fraud.

  • wosu.org article
    The vote was 198-213. Every Democrat voted against the measure, as did 30 Republicans.
  • bpr.org article
    Farm Bill just passed in the House. So happy to see work requirements included. Big win for the farmers!
  • cnbc.com article
    But the House farm bill includes cuts of more than $20 billion in SNAP benefits over 10 years.

Sources: ABC News reliable · cnbc.com reliable · everycrsreport.com needs a second source · cheac.org needs a second source

Apr 2018 Trump executive order on welfare work requirements

On April 10, 2018, President Trump signed an executive order telling federal agencies to strengthen existing work requirements and add new ones for people getting Medicaid, food stamps, public housing and welfare. Agencies had 90 days to report back with recommendations (Washington Post; UPI). The order also told agencies to make sure "only eligible persons receive benefits," and said technology should be used to "reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the current system" (text of the order). The AP's story noted that Trump "has long accused beneficiaries of abusing government assistance programs." It quoted his November 2017 claim that a person "not working at all" was "making more money and doing better" than a neighbor working three jobs. It also quoted Rebecca Vallas of the Center for American Progress, who tweeted that Trump was trying to paint benefit users as Reagan's "mythical 'welfare queen'" (CBS/AP).

  • trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov statement
    Technology and innovation should drive initiatives that increase program integrity and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the current system.
  • cbsnews.com article
    Trump has long accused beneficiaries of abusing government assistance programs
  • The Washington Post article
    Conservatives praised the executive order, calling it “Welfare Reform 2.0.”

Sources: The Washington Post reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · upi.com needs a second source · trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov reliable