Federal government targets food stamp abuse

The federal government on Thursday proposed new rules to crack down on people who sell their food stamp cards for cash, seeking to curtail a form of entitlement fraud that is rampant in the Washington area.

Citing the growing number of food stamp recipients selling their cards over the Internet, the new Department of Agriculture guidelines would allow states to investigate people who request replacement cards more than three times a year. States could cut off aid to those who couldn't adequately explain their repeated losses.

The District ranks third nationwide in the number of households that request four or more cards annually, federal data show, behind only South Dakota and Oklahoma.

But the type of fraud federal officials are targeting represents only a small fraction of the waste and abuse reported within the food stamp program, federal data show. And that single measurement greatly underestimates food stamp abuses in the Washington region.

Far more common abuses involve food stamp recipients who trade their cards to retailers for cash -- typically at less than the card's true value -- and those who lie about their circumstances to qualify for the benefit. Both of those schemes are far more prevalent locally than recipients who sell their cards and then request replacements.

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