Food Stamp Waste Shows Why SNAP Reform Is Needed

Massachusetts taxpayers just received a costly reminder of why welfare reform cannot stop at writing bigger checks. According to Massachusetts Daily News, a new Fiscal Alliance Foundation study found that Massachusetts paid out more than $1 billion in improper SNAP payments between 2022 and 2024 while as many as 75% of able-bodied recipients were not working.

That scale of waste should concern anyone who wants the safety net to work for the people who truly need it.

Food stamps are supposed to help low-income families put food on the table during periods of need. They are not supposed to become an open-ended entitlement with weak oversight, loose eligibility rules, and little accountability for states that allow improper payments to pile up.

H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” took a needed step toward fixing that problem. Its food stamp reforms strengthen work expectations, tighten program integrity, and ask states with poor payment accuracy to take more responsibility for the costs they create.

Massachusetts Shows the Cost of Weak Oversight

The Massachusetts numbers are hard to ignore. The Fiscal Alliance Foundation study found that SNAP enrollment in the state rose from just under 785,000 recipients in 2015 to more than 1.1 million in 2024, a 40% increase over the past decade. During that same period, the report found more than $1 billion in improper SNAP payments from 2022 through 2024 alone.

A program can help the truly needy and still require basic safeguards. Taxpayers should not be asked to accept a system where improper payments reach this scale while state officials resist accountability.

Reform Is Not a Slash to Food Stamps

Opponents of food stamp reform often describe any savings as a cut. That framing ignores what the reforms actually do.

Matthew Dickerson of the Economic Policy Innovation Center explains that the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” does not slash food stamp spending. EPIC’s analysis finds that after the law’s reforms, federal and state food stamp spending is projected to total $996 billion over the next decade, and annual spending would remain at least 50% higher each year than the 2019 pre-Covid level.

EPIC further notes that federal food stamp spending over the next decade remains 29% above the pre-Biden baseline. The reforms modestly roll back an unsustainable spending surge while keeping the program far larger than it was before the pandemic-era expansion.

A program with better eligibility checks, stronger work rules, and more state accountability is more credible, more targeted, and more defensible.

States Should Share Responsibility for Errors

One of the strongest food stamp reforms in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is simple: states with high improper payment rates should share in the cost.

Washington has spent years sending federal dollars out the door while states administer the program. When states have little financial exposure for bad administration, the incentive to police eligibility and payment accuracy is weaker. Improper payments rise, taxpayers pay the bill, and reformers get accused of cruelty for asking basic questions.

Massachusetts shows why this approach needs to change. When a state allows more than $1 billion in improper payments over a short period, the cost should not simply be shifted to federal taxpayers with no consequence.

Work Requirements Protect the Purpose of the Program

Food stamp reform should restore a clearer connection between assistance and work.

Able-bodied adults who can work should be expected to work, look for work, train, or participate in activities that move them closer to employment. A safety net should protect people during hard times without making nonwork a permanent default for able-bodied adults.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reforms move food stamps back toward that balance. They protect the program for people who truly need help while asking able-bodied adults and state agencies to meet reasonable standards.

CFE Takeaway

Massachusetts’ $1 billion improper SNAP payment problem shows why food stamp reform is necessary. A program this large cannot operate on weak eligibility rules, poor payment accuracy, and limited accountability for states.