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The Washington Post’s editorial board called on the Trump administration to press for “meaningful reform” of the country’s entitlement programs, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), after freelance reporter Nick Shirley recently exposed more than $100 million in alleged fraud in Minnesota’s children’s program.
In Wednesday’s edition, the newspaper said that Shirley’s investigation led to Minnesota’s Somalia fraud scandal that eventually hit the nation, joking that “a spirit of intelligence like that would have been good for a few million tax dollars ago.”
“With America’s social welfare state enmeshed in more than 80 federal programs, it has become a target for so-called rogue artists like the ones in Minneapolis. Walz’s boondoggle underscores the need for radical change across America,” the Post said. “The worst thing is that many progressive leaders do not care about fighting fraud and errors, lest public resources be reduced.”
CRITICS WARN MINNESOTA LAW IN EFFECT SETS FOR ‘NEXT BILLION FRAUD’
The fallout from child fraud in Minnesota has prompted DHS to investigate whether it can and should deport US citizens of Somali descent involved in the scheme. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
The editorial board argued that this lax attitude toward ending fraud “is especially true when it comes to open entitlement programs like the Nutrition Assistance Program.”
Several Democratic states, the Post noted, have filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s efforts to “eliminate waste and fraud” by threatening to cut SNAP funding to states that refuse to share recipient data, including immigration status.
The outlet added that it was unclear whether the Trump administration could legally cut the funding, and that green states won a preliminary injunction in October that temporarily blocked the request.
“The truth is that SNAP doesn’t just help the hungry,” the Post asserted. “It had the fourth highest rate of documented fraud among all government programs from 2018 to 2022, coming in at $10.5 billion.”
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As noted by the Post, Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey criticized the administration’s approach, saying that President Donald Trump is “playing politics with the ability of parents who work with children, the elderly and people with disabilities to get food.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivers her inaugural address in the House Chamber during the Statehouse after being sworn into office during inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 5, 2023, Boston, Massachusetts. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)
The outlet countered those concerns by pointing to the state’s record, noting that “Massachusetts had a 14 percent error rate in SNAP payments in fiscal year 2024 — the seventh highest in the country,” and that nationally, “overpayments represent a larger portion of the error rate than underpayments.”
“The tax bill passed in July requires states with an error rate of more than 6 percent to pay up to 15 percent of the cost of benefits through 2028. The two-year cap was put in place to give states with high errors, like Alaska, more time to get their act together — but why should the worst offenders get special treatment?” the editorial board asked.
“The left says Trump wants Americans to starve, but if a person shouldn’t be eligible for food stamps in the first place, where is the cruelty to ensure benefits go to such a person?”
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The Post also said that while “states clearly need to do better jobs screening welfare recipients,” the Trump administration “has an opportunity to seek meaningful reforms.”
However, it warned that it would be a mistake to “waste it by using waste and fraud as an excuse for unfair cuts or to use beneficiary information to fuel a massive deportation war.”
After Shirley’s video alleged rampant fraud in Minnesota’s child care system, the Post said the Trump administration used the move to justify ending all child care payments in the state. The agency warned that completely eliminating the safety net “will hurt more than fraudsters.”
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign event, Friday, December 19, 2025, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Instead of ending all state child care payments, the editorial board said the federal government should “fight for reforms that encourage responsible spending, such as block grants,” arguing that by providing a limited amount of money, “Washington can encourage states to spend more carefully and animal recipients more carefully.”
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“Social safety nets collapse when too many taxpayers feel that welfare money is going to people who don’t deserve it. The purpose of entitlements is not to spend as much as possible. It’s to make sure that the truly vulnerable get the help they need without relying on government handouts. Scrutinizing food stamp rolls is a small step in that direction,” the Post concluded.
