The House Agriculture Committee released the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, hailing it as “providing certainty to our farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.” Without question, America’s farmers deserve our thanks and, most importantly, our support. Yet, when roughly 70% of the draft farm bill funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, taxpayers are justified in asking, “Where’s the beef?”
What’s missing? In the current committee draft, there are simply no meaningful reforms for a food stamps program projected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade.
The United Council on Welfare Fraud is the only national nonprofit group dedicated exclusively to combating waste, fraud, and abuse in social service programs. They represent state and local investigators who see firsthand how identity schemes, false applications, corrupt retailers, duplicate participation, and organized criminals exploit SNAP, robbing beneficiaries and taxpayers.
We strongly urge Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and his committee to make changes to this legislation; otherwise, this bill will end up being a $1 trillion missed opportunity.
What is needed? SNAP’s administrative framework has remained largely unrevised and updated for decades — despite explosive growth. When UCOWF testified before the committee in 2024, we provided specific, practical solutions to preserve SNAP, including:
- Implement the SNAP National Accuracy Clearinghouse, as directed six years ago, to stop interstate dual enrollment.
- Modernize identity and eligibility verifications — especially ending the practice of self-attestation for benefit access.
- Restore stronger incentives for states to recover misspent dollars.
- Strengthen retailer screening and close loopholes that invite bad actors — foreign and domestic.
These are not new or even partisan ideas. Most were included in the House’s 2024 farm bill framework. Yet, in this current version slated for a vote next week, nearly all these safeguards have disappeared. Given recent fraud headlines nationwide, it’s almost like all of this has fallen on deaf ears.
Americans’ trust is fragile, and taxpayers’ patience with their elected officials wears thin. Polling shows 70% of voters believe welfare fraud is common nationwide, and a vast majority support cracking down to protect entitlement programs for those most vulnerable in our society.
The White House established the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the Department of Justice. Congressional hearings routinely focus on the need for greater stewardship of taxpayer funds, and the Department of Government Efficiency has publicly committed to cracking down on all federal programs. And just last month, Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) begged Congress to fix loopholes in laws that allow transnational fraudsters to exploit programs in her state.
This is the opportunity to go from flowery promises to meaningful change. The committee’s draft can and should be amended. The 2026 farm bill does not pull SNAP out of the “honor system” on which it currently depends, nor does it address retailer trafficking. It doesn’t even fix duplicate participation or confront known categorical eligibility loopholes. Absent these changes to our largest federal safety net program, congressional ‘reforms’ will ring hollow. Beneficiaries will suffer, and criminals will continue to rob taxpayers.
SNAP is not a minor add-on to agricultural policy — it represents the majority of farm bill spending. Farmers and ranchers should not be held hostage to SNAP politics every five years. Its oversight should also not be diluted inside a subsidies bill.
CONSERVATIVES EMBARK ON FOOD STAMP REFORM SOUGHT FOR 15 YEARS
Our shared goal should be to foster SNAP’s adoption of 21st-century solutions to best serve beneficiaries of today and tomorrow. But if the committee’s interests lie elsewhere, Congress should consider aligning SNAP with the nation’s other entitlement programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
We urge Congress to partner with us and course correct before next week’s vote. Our proposed changes are modest, and as the state and local investigators who work in the field every day, we know what is needed to protect beneficiaries and taxpayers alike. SNAP is too large to be governed as an afterthought. Protecting the integrity of taxpayer dollars and ensuring benefits reach eligible families is simply not partisan. The last thing any of us wants is to look at the bill’s trillion-dollar Nutrition Title and hear echoes of the famous question: “Where’s the beef?”
Keith Miskie is the president of the United Council on Welfare Fraud.