(The Center Square) – Improper food subsidy payments may cost Illinois taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, but a risk solutions analyst says the state’s high Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program error rate can be fixed.
Illinois’ error rate for improper SNAP payments rose from 11.56% in 2024 to 14.67% last year, fifth highest in the nation.
Under provisions of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states with high error rates began paying more on October 1 of this year to administer SNAP.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker responded by saying the federal government’s goal was “basically” pushing people off the subsidies.
Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions government business, said Pritzker should blame thieves instead of blaming the Trump administration.
“These transnational criminals are going into the system and they're stealing. They're stealing from those in need, and they're stealing from hardworking taxpayers that are funding these programs,” Talcove told The Center Square.
Talcove said Illinois has antiquated processes and technology, and the state’s error rate has been high for years.
“It's been a Trump phenomenon, and it's been a Biden phenomenon. And even before that, it was a little bit on the high side under Obama,” Talcove said.
Talcove said states should implement front-end identity verification and stop self-reported information.
“Imagine applying for a mortgage and telling the bank that you make a million dollars a year and they just check the box and say, yep, that's what you make. Government does not validate the information on the forms, and as a result, the criminals know that,” Talcove said.
Talcove said Illinois should hire a third-party auditor.
“Children should not be allowed to grade their homework. The state shouldn't tell you what their error rate is,” Talcove said, adding that every beneficiary in the SNAP system should be reevaluated.
Talcove said taxpayers will cough up $700 million if Illinois does not improve its error rate.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the nation’s states and territories made a collective $10 billion in improper Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments during fiscal year 2025.
(The Center Square) – Federal regulators fined Bank of America $1.21 billion Tuesday after finding it failed to quickly report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and relied on others to catch what its own systems missed.
(The Center Square) – At a political rally in Tyler, Texas, on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration has already begun using wartime authority to expand refinery production in deep east Texas.
The Center Square – Thirty-three states received failing grades for their K-12 open enrollment policies, which govern students' ability to attend public schools other than those assigned to them based on where they live, according to a new report from the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Post a comment as Guest
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.