Kansas Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins issued a press release accusing the Laura Kelly Administration of a cover-up of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Kansas Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “SNAP.”
The United States Department of Agriculture has on multiple occasions asked the Kansas Department of Children and Family Services for data — including personally identifying information — on SNAP recipients as part of a drive to create a national database.
While the SNAP program is run at the state level, it is largely funded with federal tax dollars. According to Hawkins’ release, the Kansas House Select Committee on Government Oversight revealed in April that Kansas currently operates its program with an error rate of 12% — the highest in the region. The USDA, under both the Biden and Trump Administrations, has sent warning letters to Kelly and DCFS regarding the ongoing failure to comply with recertification processing deadlines and excessive errors in determining eligibility for food stamps. Both federal administrations took the Kelly administration to task, calling for improved efficiency in the management of the Kansas program. Both letters were seemingly ignored.
The administration is continuing to refuse to comply with those demands, and Hawkins claims DCFS is “withholding information from the USDA that is needed to investigate for fraudulent activity and other illegal actions within the Kansas SNAP program. Due to the incredibly high error rate in the Kansas SNAP program, it makes logical sense that the USDA wants to more closely examine the program. Yet DCF Secretary Howard has refused to release the information.”
According to the Kansas Reflector, the Kelly administration claims it is withholding the information due to privacy concerns, potential liability, and the outcome of a pending lawsuit, to which Kansas is not a party.
“In a letter to Gina Brand, USDA senior policy advisor for integrity, Kansas DCF Secretary Laura Howard said the USDA’s plan to share the data with other agencies to investigate and prosecute violations of the law was part of the reason she would not turn over the data until the lawsuit is resolved,” the Reflector reported.
According to the website, Howard claimed that a federal agency asking for data on the recipients of a program it funds is a violation of law.
“The suit argues that the demands for state-held SNAP data is contrary to statute and the Constitution,” Howard said. “Due to the pending litigation, we are forced to deny the USDA’s demand for data at this time. Doing the opposite will place KDCF in a position of potential liability in the event a court finds that the USDA’s demand violates federal law.”
Hawkins called the Kelly administration’s actions “shocking.”
“For years, they’ve made repeated SNAP payments in error, using taxpayer dollars to make payments to those who are not eligible for the program,” Hawkins said in the release. “They’ve repeatedly ignored requests from multiple federal administrations to correct their actions. Now they are refusing to release information to the USDA that would allow the federal government to investigate unlawful activity in a program that is funded with federal tax dollars. The Kelly Administration’s handling of this situation stinks to the high heavens.
“Governor Kelly and her Administration are clearly involved in a cover-up that is not only embarrassing for our state but likely fleecing federal taxpayers of their hard-earned money. I encourage the USDA and other federal agencies to take all necessary actions to compel the Kelly administration to cooperate. I will also be encouraging Chair Kristey Williams of the Kansas House Select Committee on Government Oversight to use all available tools to get to the bottom of this situation. In addition, I will be bringing this information to the attention of the Kansas federal delegation and the Kansas Attorney General. Kansans deserve accountability and transparency, not political games. The Kelly cover-up must end immediately.”
