An Agriculture Department push to root out "fraud" in the nation's largest food aid program is facing unexpected resistance from two Republican-led states that say the administration's own numbers don't add up, according to a new report.
Ohio and Georgia, the first states examined under the initiative led by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, told USDA's inspector general that its fraud-detection methods were flawed and its findings inaccurate, according to documents obtained by Politico.
“The basis for Ohio’s disagreement is twofold — proper audit procedures were not followed, and 2) the specific data requested by OIG was insufficient and as a result does not accurately reflect Ohio’[s] administration of SNAP," the state said in a response to the inspector general's initial findings.
The pushback complicates months of public messaging from Rollins, who has repeatedly claimed "significant fraud" in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including unverified assertions that beneficiaries are driving luxury cars.
In Ohio's case, the inspector general initially flagged $59.7 million in potential fraud. After the state disputed the findings, that figure was cut to $13.3 million — and Ohio is contesting even that number. State officials say at least 93 percent of the original claims weren't fraud at all, but routine administrative matters. One flagged case involved a person over 110 years old, wrongly suspected of being a fraudulent recipient; Ohio provided Social Security records confirming the person was alive and eligible.
Georgia's dispute was even sharper. The inspector general initially estimated nearly $300 million in potential fraud in the state — a figure later reduced by about 95 percent after Georgia challenged the underlying data, according to a former USDA employee familiar with the review.
Former department officials say the pattern suggests legitimate payments and clerical errors are being swept into fraud totals. Alan Shannon, a former USDA payment accuracy specialist, said he's never seen the agency characterize routine errors this way, calling the approach "highly unusual," and another official with the agency criticized the administration's efforts.
“It concerns me when they’re potentially inflating the findings and undermining public trust in the programs,” said Stacy Dean, the former deputy undersecretary of USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services division.
“They’re there to enhance public trust in the programs by being that watchdog, but when they don’t take the time to check their work and to be sure of its accuracy, they can erode public confidence in these critical nutrition programs.”
USDA Inspector General John Walk defended the process, saying preliminary findings are shared with states as part of a normal back-and-forth before final conclusions are reached, and pushed back on the characterization of the exchanges as "disagreements and disputes."
The dispute lands amid a broader administration campaign — backed by Vice President JD Vance and formalized through a March executive order — to publicize fraud in federal benefit programs. It also coincides with SNAP enrollment dropping by roughly 4.3 million people over the past year, following stricter eligibility rules passed by Republicans last year.
With inspections still pending for states including Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia's experience suggests the administration's final tallies could fall well short of the sweeping fraud claims driving its messaging campaign.
