Tag: welfare

Trump Admin Drafts Policy to Let Married Stay-at-Home Parents Collect Child-Care Aid Instead of Paying Strangers to Raise Their Kids

The Trump administration is drafting a Health and Human Services policy that would, for the first time, let a married parent who stays home with the children collect federal child-care money that Washington has spent thirty years routing almost exclusively to day-care centers.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with the talks and a draft document, reports the change is a priority for Vice President JD Vance and would tap the Child Care and Development Fund, the 1990s program built to help low-income parents pay for care so they could work or go to school.

Typical aid runs about $9,000 per child a year.

Under the draft, a married couple in certain income brackets could use that assistance for “parent-based childcare,” meaning one spouse stays home while the other works at least 35 hours a week.

“The change would create the only federal subsidy to pay parents to stay home and raise their children, one of the most significant efforts to date by the Trump administration to harness federal funds to promote a traditional view of families,” the NYT reports.

No new act of Congress is required for this change.

The Times reported, as if it were a negative, “The policy change would effectively create a government incentive for parents to stay home with their children, an idea embraced as part of a broader conservative effort to advance policies that promote more mothers staying at home.”

A federal program that will pay a stranger to raise a child and will not pay a mother or father to do it is not neutral.

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Muslim Convert Minnesota AG Keith Ellison Forced to Return $12,500 From Somali Fraudsters After Secret Tape Caught Him Promising to “Fight These People” and Unfreeze Their Welfare Cash

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to statewide office in Minnesota and a convert from Catholicism, has quietly returned at least $12,500 in campaign cash from Somali figures tied to the massive Feeding Our Future welfare fraud after a secret recording surfaced of him huddling with the same crowd to fend off state investigators.

According to the Center of the American Experiment, the five refunded contributions included donations from Gandi Yusuf Mohamed and Liban Alishire, both of whom became defendants in the Feeding Our Future case.

As The Gateway Pundit reported in December, the 54-minute recording, obtained by the Center of the American Experiment and later entered as a trial exhibit, captured Ellison schmoozing with Somali-American operators who would later be charged or convicted in the Feeding Our Future scheme that looted more than $250 million in federal child-nutrition money meant for hungry kids.

The meeting participants complained that state regulators were acting in a “racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic manner” by asking questions about phantom meal sites.

“The only way we can protect what we have is by inserting ourselves into the political arena, putting our votes where it needs to be, but most importantly, putting our dollars in the right place,” Feeding Our Future consultant Abshir Omar said.

“But if you are secure in your donor base, and if you are secure in your power base, you can act the way you want to act,” Omar continued.

“Money is freedom,” Ellison replied with a laugh.

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Trump DOJ Puts Sanctuary States on Notice: ALL State Agencies Receiving Federal Food Stamp and Social Security Assistance Funds Must Report Known Illegal Aliens to DHS Under Welfare Reform Law Passed by Congress in 1996

The Department of Justice just ripped up a 28-year Clinton-era legal dodge that let sanctuary states hide illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities while collecting billions in welfare money meant for American families.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a formal opinion holding that when a state takes Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds, the entire state government, not just the welfare office, must report to the Department of Homeland Security any person the state knows is not lawfully present in the United States.

That is not a new law. That is the 1996 welfare-reform statute Congress actually wrote. The Clinton Justice Department simply pretended it said something else.

“Congress wrote this requirement plainly,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who leads OLC. “When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States. Tax dollars intended to help vulnerable Americans should not perversely encourage illegal entry into the United States, but rather should reinforce our laws and our borders.”

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, the author of the opinion, was even blunter: the new guidance “does not impose new obligations on states.” It “simply restores the original meaning of the statute Congress enacted.” States that take the money “must abide by federal law, and failure to comply may lead to serious consequences, including loss of program funding.”

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories take TANF and SSI. Federal TANF block grants alone exceed $16.4 billion a year.

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Huge Red Flags Emerge as ‘Respiratory Therapist’ Gets Caught Billing California Medicaid for OVER $40 MILLION and Goes on INSANE Spending Spree with His Husband

Alarm bells are going off as a California man who supposedly works as a “respiratory therapist” has gotten obscenely rich in what appears to be one of the worst cases of Medicaid fraud yet.

As City Journal’s Chris Rufo reported on Wednesday, Curtis Kurkova has a company called HeroCare that has at least $40.5 million in California Medicaid payments since 2020. Roughly $34.4 million of that was paid out between 2023 and 2024.

Per Rufo, HeroCare earned the majority of its Medicaid revenue between 2020 and 2024 from a handful of basic plastic commodities.

Flush with these tens of millions of dollars, Kurkova has spent lavishly. His largest purchase was a $28 million Hidden Hills mansion near where the Kardashians live.

Kurkova and his husband also spent millions on sports cars, private jets, luxury resorts, and three additional homes. They have even partied in some of the most exclusive areas on the planet.

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SNAP Junk Food Bans in Two States on Hold Due to Court Rulings

The battle over SNAP benefits might be being waged from state to state, but federal courts are part of the action, too.

Two states that had planned restrictions on the foods that can be purchased by those using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards have put the moves on hold after a federal court ruled in favor of SNAP recipients in a case covering five other states, Newsweek reported Monday.

Six states still have restrictions in place.

SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps,” is a federally funded program administered by the individual states. It is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Some states restrict its use from purchasing junk food, such as sodas, candy, and some juices and energy drinks. Others have plans to do so.

The states that already have restrictions that are unaffected by the ruling, according to the grocery tracking website Greenchoice, are Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

South Carolina and North Dakota were only days away from implementing similar bans beginning Sept. 1 when Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, struck down restrictions that had already been in place in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

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More Than Half of Immigrant-Led Households Receive Some Type of Welfare Benefit

According to a chart published by Personal Finance Wizards, 45.6% of Afghan immigrant households in the United States receive SNAP benefits. The chart, which shows the percentage of U.S. households receiving SNAP benefits by ethnicity, uses data from U.S. Census Table S0201.

Other groups with high participation rates include Somali households at 42.4%, Iraqi households at 34.8%, Dominican households at 34.4%, and Caribbean households at 28.2%.

Democrats are fond of claiming that illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare and that illegal immigration, and immigration in general, represents a net gain for U.S. taxpayers. The term “welfare” is used specifically to narrow the scope.

The reality, however, is that legal and illegal immigrants receive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal and state assistance each year through a variety of programs, including Medicaid, food assistance programs, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), housing assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), school meal programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, and Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

Furthermore, when it comes specifically to welfare, Democrats ignore the fact that families headed by illegal immigrant parents can receive benefits if they have U.S.-citizen children. Because the parents often work off the books, they can claim to have no income, making their children eligible for welfare benefits.

A separate analysis of 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation data, published in February 2026 by the Center for Immigration Studies, found that 52.7% of immigrant-headed households used one or more major welfare programs, compared with 37.3% of U.S.-born-headed households. The largest gaps were in Medicaid use, at 39% versus 27%, and food assistance, at 35% versus 22%.

Among households headed specifically by illegal immigrants, the report found an overall welfare participation rate of 60.7%. One data point often cited to support the false claim that immigrants use benefits at a lower rate than native-born citizens is that SSI and housing assistance use among this group is lower than among U.S.-born households. However, the lower rate of SSI use is only because illegal aliens are largely barred from receiving SSI, although some still receive it through various means. As for housing benefits, U.S.-citizen children of immigrants, including illegal immigrants, qualify for housing assistance, so their parents do not need to apply for it themselves.

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Florida grand jury finds DeSantis administration misused $10 million, but no charges filed

A Florida grand jury found that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration “misappropriated” $10 million in taxpayer money it diverted to a charity connected to his wife, but it declined to file criminal charges due to a lack of evidence indicating who specifically was responsible.

DeSantis on Thursday did not dispute the legitimacy of the secret grand jury report obtained and published online by CBS News Miami, but he insisted no laws were broken and said whoever leaked the sealed documents would face “consequences.”

The Leon County grand jury completed its report in January on investigations into Hope Florida, the charity started in 2021 by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. Despite the lack of charges, the report ignited a new round of criticism aimed at DeSantis and other top state Republicans over the charity receiving $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement intended to help poor children get health insurance.

David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor, called for the grand jury probe to be reopened. He faces Republican Byron Donalds in November. DeSantis, under Florida law, cannot seek a third term.

The Hope Florida charity is supposed to help financially struggling families connect with churches and aid groups to help keep them off publicly-financed assistance programs. The $10 million was instead moved to political action committees that used the money to oppose a 2024 statewide ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana for adults in the state.

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Hope Florida grand jury finds Medicaid money ‘misused for political purposes’

A state grand jury investigating the Hope Florida scandal found that key members of the DeSantis administration wrongly engaged in a “sophisticated scheme” to divert $10 million of a Medicaid settlement into political activities and the Republican Party of Florida, according to a copy of the grand jury’s report obtained by CBS News Miami.

The report concluded the $10 million in taxpayer money was “plainly used for political purposes” but also said the grand jury could not find enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime because no one would “take responsibility” for deciding to divert the money to Hope Florida “or had any memory” of who made the decision.

It noted that most of those involved were lawyers who “acted on the advice of other lawyers” making it hard to determine who was to blame.

“We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution,” the report said. “While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”

Despite a lack of criminal charges, the report pointed fingers at key DeSantis officials who had been at the center of a scandal that centered on Hope Florida, a charity championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. It became embroiled in controversy last year, once it became public that the charity had served as conduit for the $10 million that landed in political committees but should have paid for medical expenses for needy Floridians.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was then Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff, was “in a position of authority” and at the heart of a scheme that sent money to political committees fighting passage of an amendment to legalize marijuana in 2024, the grand jury found.

“Testimony identified (Uthmeier) as having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida,” the report said. “Testimony also revealed that Mr. Uthmeier’s Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee, was the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds.”

The report also found that U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who was attorney general at the time, knew of the scheme and authorized her chief deputy at the time, John Guard, to sign the settlement agreement, CBS News reported. Guard signed the settlement, despite his reservations, and “without conducting his due diligence to ensure the proper appropriation of taxpayer funds,” the report said.

Both Uthmeier and Moody were appointed by DeSantis to their current positions and are running for election to those offices in November. Their Democratic opponents called for their resignation after CBS posted its story.

DeSantis appointed Guard to serve as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in January.

The $10 million was part of a $67 million settlement with the Centene Corporation, a Medicaid provider that overcharged the state. The $10 million was peeled off to Hope Florida, then within a matter of days transferred to two nonprofit political organizations that in quick succession gave the money to a political committee chaired by Uthmeier and set up to defeat the marijuana amendment.

The grand jury was convened in October 2025 by Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell to investigate the circumstances surrounding the distribution of the $10 million, part of a larger $67 million settlement with the Centene Corporation, a Medicaid vendor that had overcharged the state for prescription medicines.

The investigation followed months of news reports about the scheme, after Rep. Alex Andrade held committee hearings questioning state officials and Hope Florida board members about the transfer. The grand jury concluded its work in January, and its report was sealed.

Neither DeSantis, Uthmeier or Moody were called to testify before the grand jury.

Uthmeier has defended his actions in public, and his office told CBS News on Wednesday said the only crime was releasing the grand jury report. Moody has ducked reporters’ questions about her involvement in the Hope Florida scandal.

DeSantis has characterized the Hope Florida scandal as a “hoax.” During a news conference Wednesday, CBS News reported, he said he wasn’t involved in the settlement agreement, “but was very happy with how everything was done.”

The grand jury report concludes with two recommendations — that the Legislature should pass a law to prevent something like this from occurring again, and pass “clear laws setting requirements” for how nonprofits like the Hope Florida Foundation can use taxapyer funds, making sure those funds are monitored and providing penalties for violating any new laws.

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Undocumented migrant accused of using 55 fake identities to collect $180K in Quebec welfare

An undocumented migrant from Senegal is accused of defrauding Quebec taxpayers of more than $180,000 by allegedly submitting dozens of social assistance applications using fake identities.

According to the Journal de Montréal, 45-year-old Omar Ndiaye has been detained since his arrest last month and faces fraud, document forgery and use of forged-document charges stemming from an alleged scheme operating between August 2024 and March 2026.

Crown prosecutors allege Ndiaye submitted 55 applications for last-resort financial assistance, mostly online, using fictitious profiles and impersonating different beneficiaries.

Quebec’s Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity allegedly approved 37 of the applications, resulting in more than $180,000 in public money being paid out.

There was one apparent flaw in the alleged scheme: despite using different identities, photographs bearing a “very strong resemblance” to Ndiaye were allegedly attached to several applications.

Surveillance footage also allegedly captured Ndiaye withdrawing money with bank cards registered to three other people, while police reportedly observed him retrieving mail from several post office boxes registered at addresses other than his own.

According to the report, a former landlord discovered more than 140 letters from the Quebec government, federal government and a bank addressed to various individuals.

Investigators allegedly found another identity during Ndiaye’s arrest: a passport from the Democratic Republic of Congo bearing a different name but his photograph.

Crown prosecutor Julien Beaulieu argued against releasing Ndiaye pending trial.

“Mr. Ndiaye is using multiple different identities, so much so that he constitutes an imminent flight risk,” Beaulieu told the court.

Ndiaye has no legal status in Canada and testified that he works illegally as a dishwasher at a Montreal restaurant. He reportedly lived in Spain between 2005 and 2023.

Seeking release, Ndiaye told the court that “living in Canada is a dream” and insisted he had no intention of fleeing.

Quebec Court Judge Sonia Mastro Matteo wasn’t convinced.

The judge noted that Ndiaye’s place of residence in Canada was difficult to establish and ruled that a proposed $4,000 deposit was insufficient to ensure he would appear in court and comply with release conditions.

His defence, meanwhile, offered an unusual alternative explanation: another person could be responsible for the 55 allegedly fraudulent applications by impersonating Ndiaye himself.

Ndiaye remains behind bars and is scheduled to return to court in October.

According to the Crown, he could face three to five years in prison if convicted.

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Florida Overhauls Welfare Program to Ban ‘Inappropriate, Luxury’ Purchases

Florida is reforming a welfare program for needy families, banning taxpayer-funded purchases of such leisure activities as gambling, harmful non-essentials like tobacco and tattoos, and immoral activities such as “adult content.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) announced on August 24 an amendment to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) State Plan in order to ensure recipients cannot use the taxpayer-funded benefits for buying “inappropriate, luxury and non-essential items.” It’s an important move to prevent fraudsters from funding their pleasures and vices with TANF rather than using it for necessities.

Democrats and some irresponsible Republicans have encouraged welfare recipients to believe for many years now that they are owed other people’s money, even on a generational basis, and that any restrictions on how they spend that confiscated wealth are infringements of their rights. Thus when the Trump administration began trying to limit food stamp eligible products, countless individuals, many obese, took to social media to scream in fury that they had a right to buy Twinkies and root beer on other people’s dime.

In contrast, DeSantis explained, “TANF provides taxpayer-funded Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) through an EBT card, which cannot be used to purchase alcohol, gamble, or spend money at adult entertainment establishments.”

The governor added that he has directed the Florida Department of Children and Families “to amend Florida’s TANF State Plan so that these benefits cannot also be used for tobacco, vaping products, adult content, video games, theme park tickets, tattoos, spa services, tanning, or psychic readings. Taxpayer-funded assistance should help families put food on the table, keep the lights on, purchase clothing, provide for their children and overcome barriers on the path toward independence.”

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