House Republican duo calls for fraud probe into federal anti-poverty program

JACKSON, Miss. — The federal government should investigate potential fraud in one of its largest anti-poverty programs, two Republican members of Congress say.

In a Sept. 20 letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodoro that was made public Monday by Mississippi’s state auditor, U.S. Reps. Jason Smith, of Missouri, and Darin LaHood, of Illinois, said the Government Accountability Office should review non-assistance spending in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The TANF program provides about $16.5 billion in federal funding to states for services intended to help families who cannot afford their basic needs.

Smith chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means, and LaHood chairs the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare. The congressional Republicans linked their concerns about fraud to Mississippi’s sprawling corruption scandal in which authorities say $77 million in federal welfare funds intended to help some of the nation’s poorest people were diverted to the rich and powerful.

“We are concerned that the Mississippi case is emblematic of a systemic problem,” Smith and Lahood wrote. “Taxpayers and Americans who need help deserve better.”

The former Republican-appointed head of Mississippi’s Department of Human Services and former leaders of nonprofits have pleaded guilty to state and federal charges alleging that they misspent money through the TANF program.

The scandal has ensnared high-profile figures, including retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who is among more than three dozen defendants in a lawsuit the current Human Services director filed to recover some of the welfare money. Favre has denied wrongdoing and he sued the state auditor for defamation.