Excuse me for the delay, folks. We have Iran, midterm chaos, and numerous other stories floating around as we approach the end of summer. Combating nationwide, systemic fraud is not a trivial matter. Nick Shruley has exposed the mountains of hucksters milking the healthcare system, whether it be Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis or East Asian-run elderly centers in New York City. This has been going on for years, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put the general figure around $230-500 billion, which is lost to fraud schemes.
On August 5, Vice President JD Vance, chair of the Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force, held a roundtable to relay more findings and call on Congress to codify anti-fraud measures (via Fox News):
Vice President JD Vance, who chairs President Donald Trump's Task Force To Eliminate Fraud, said during remarks … that the effort has identified $230 billion of suspected fraud so far.
"We've been able to stop $56 billion in fraudulent payments that would've otherwise gone to fraudsters, rather than to the people who need them," he said at a task-force roundtable event with lawmakers.
Vance called for reforms to help tackle the fraud.
[…]
He said that if California provides "those food stamp benefits to an illegal alien, to a violent criminal, the federal government has no visibility, and sometimes the states themselves have no visibility."
"So we need to work with Congress, and we need some legislation that would actually force some data sharing between the state governments and the federal governments," the vice president said.
WATCH: @VP outlines how Congress can codify the tremendous work of the @WHFraudTF in eliminating the theft of taxpayer dollars. https://t.co/7X517NBaBT pic.twitter.com/Ye5lHXpJdE
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 5, 2026
One lawmaker is prepared to move forward: Republican Study Committee chair Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), who said there’s no time to waste on this initiative:
The Republican Study Committee has been at the forefront of the fight against waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs, and today's announcement affirms the urgency of that work. I thank Vice President Vance and the Fraud Task Force for their diligence in identifying fraud and returning billions of dollars to the American people. Now Congress must finish the job. The RSC has put forward a framework to codify these anti-fraud measures into law. There is no excuse for delay. Taxpayers deserve the certainty that their dollars are protected, and that every loophole exploited by fraudsters is closed for good.”
The House is in recess, but I have no doubt the lower chamber could get something done. Sorry, Senate, you guys can’t pass the immensely popular SAVE America Act because your leader, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), is too much of a wilted willow to gather votes, even with all the means at his disposal.
This shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but Democrats are quite mad we’re exposing their voter base for being, well, a bunch of crooks.
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