$4 billion in SNAP waste is nothing to disregard

Did you hear that the Department of Agriculture spent $4 billion in improper food stamp payments last year?

Now granted, it's just a measly $4 billion overpayment in a $63 billion budget for food stamps. That's just a little over 6 percent of the total food stamp budget in incorrect payments of your tax dollars.

But don't be shocked if you haven't heard of this multi-billion dollar mistake.

We're much too consumed with kids in cages, Stormy Daniels and the ever-popular Russian collusion to take notice of a paltry $4 billion snafu.

Through a combination of government human error and incorrect information supplied by food stamp recipients, $4 billion of your taxes were wasted.

The USDA was quick to point out that the improper payments do not always reflect fraud on the part of food stamp recipients.

So if the feds want us to fully understand the improper payments were not fraud, then we are left to chalk up this massive and expensive mistake to sloppy human error on those who calculate the benefits.

Either way, the American taxpayer is left on the hook for a sizable amount of cash.

The national food stamp error rate is 6 percent, but some states -- Delaware leads the pack -- have an error rate on their SNAP payments of almost 14 percent.

If you assumed that under a new administration we finally have a handle on fraud and human error in these payments, you would be wrong.

The last time similar data was shared was 2014. Overpayments then were only $2.6 billion.

In other words, the "human error" rate along with fraud is increasing.

The feds have a somewhat sophisticated way to calculate which states are overpaying food stamp users. And there is a process to penalize those states where errors are high.

But the calculations do little to halt the taxpayer abuse. And the overpayments keep growing.

I'd be willing to bet you haven't heard of this costly error. And some of that is our fault.

We as a society have simply come to accept certain levels of fraud and abuse, human error and sloppiness. When the feds deal in trillions, a few billion here and there seems almost acceptable.

But of course, it's not acceptable. Nor sustainable.

If a business overpaid 6 percent of their vendors, that business would be broke.

If these mistakes are indeed human error, get new humans. If these mistakes are the result of fraud, implement strong penalties.

And if these mistakes are the blame of elected officials who ignore issues because they are unpopular to address, then we need new elected officials.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Standard Democrat in Sikeston, Missouri.