Tennessee congressman introducing bills addressing SNAP payments

(The Center Square) – A day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported $10 billion in improper payments to the federal food assistance program, Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett said he will introduce two bills to stop “widespread fraud.”

Burchett, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, said Thursday that one bill would restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to only U.S. citizens.

The second bill increases fines for what he called retail trafficking of SNAP benefits to up to $500,000.

“Congress needs to get some real guts and do something and quit talking,” Burchett said in a social media video posted shortly after the DOGE subcommittee meeting. “I’m sick of it. We need to do what we said we were going to do and this is part of it, the fraud, waste and abuse, it’s just rampant.”

New SNAP error rates released on Wednesday show more than $10 billion in improper payments. Burchett’s home state of Tennesse...