Welfare Fraud and Hypocrisy

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a freeze on federal child care and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. Notably, these are all Democratic states. HHS justified the cutoff of money due to "widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars". Making the announcement, Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said that, "This action reflects our commitment to program integrity, fiscal responsibility, and compliance with federal requirements." However, as reported earlier this week by the HuffPost, O’Neill's concerns do not appear to apply to red states. To the contrary, HHS and the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump have turned a blind eye towards similar fraud in Republican-led Mississippi.

The welfare fraud in Mississippi is probably best known because it involves former National Football League quarterback Brett Favre. Full disclosure, I am a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan and greatly admired Favre for many years. However, since leaving the Packers, Favre has done his best to bring himself into disrepute. He managed to get himself involved in a "sexting" scandal and then was caught influencing to have funds meant for needy families to be used to build a stadium at his daughter's university (which is also his alma mater). Favre's excuse was basically that he is too dumb to have realized that this was wrong, something that many people will believe is a legitimate defense. Regardless, Favre has, for the most part, escaped punishment for his involvement.

The Mississippi fraud scandal is complicated and difficult to explain in a manner that does not put everyone to sleep. Therefore, I am going to gloss over much of it and just provide a high-level description. Mississippi receives block grants from the federal government to be used to support needy families. In turn, the state government provides the bulk of those funds to local non-profit organizations. In 2016, John Davis was appointed director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Davis ordered that grants be provided to two non-profits, the Mississippi Community Education Center and the Family Resource Center of North Mississippi. These two organizations would eventually receive $110 million between them.

Favre was an investor in a company named Prevacus that was developing a drug to treat concussions. He often interacted with government officials on behalf of the company. In 2018, Favre asked then Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to provide political help with obtaining Food and Drug Administration approval. Bryant became interested in investing in the company himself, and Prevacus would eventually receive $1.7 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds that were funneled through the Mississippi Community Education Center. Favre was well aware of the source of the money, writing in a text that "I believe it’s possible she and John Davis would use federal grant money for Prevacus." The "she" mentioned was Nancy New, the head of the Mississippi Community Education Center. To be clear, federal and state funds meant for needy families was instead diverted to a company in which Favre was one of the largest investors. 

Around the same time, Favre was working with the Mississippi Community Education Center's New to obtain funding for a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre was an alumnus of the university, and his daughter was on the volleyball team there. Eventually, New would direct $5 million in TANF funds to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for the stadium. New also directed $1.1 million to Favre for motivational speeches he never delivered. Texts show that Favre played an active role in delivering the money. Again, to be clear, federal and state funds meant for needy families was diverted to a stadium and to Favre personally. 

The fraud in Mississippi was very similar to that which has occurred in Minnesota. However, right-wing YouTubers have not flocked to Mississippi to create sensationalistic content to rile up their audiences. This is a bit strange because another participant in the scandal, WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr., has been on trial last week for his role in the fraud. Nor has Trump cut off federal funding to Mississippi. To the contrary, actually.

As the HuffPost reports:

Shortly before President Joe Biden left office, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families levied a $100 million penalty against Mississippi for allowing fraudsters to embezzle funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

However, in August, the Trump administration rescinded the penalty and told the state that it would issue a new penalty letter at the appropriate time. It is now eight months later, and no new letter has been sent. Contrast this with the quick cutoff of funds to the Democratic states:

“There’s certainly a disparate effect here, in terms of these five blue states and that one particular red state,” Nick Gwyn, an expert on federal-state welfare programs with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told HuffPost.

I think that it goes without saying that if you oppose fraud, you should oppose fraud regardless of the voting tendencies of the state in which it occurred. If you only oppose fraud in blue states, you don't really oppose fraud. Rather, you are just using fraud as an excuse to punish states that you don't like. This appears to be the case with Trump. Obviously, absolutely nobody will be shocked to learn that Trump is hypocritical. That is a baseline assumption when it comes to him.

It is not a stretch to say that the current federal occupation that is occurring in Minneapolis is a result of right-wing-generated controversy about fraud in Minnesota. Trump has claimed that a partial justification for the federal agents in the city is to uncover fraud. Yet, when it comes to Mississippi and Brett Favre, things are different. Favre was forced to return the funds paid to him for work he did not do, but has not been criminally charged. Federal funds have not been cut off to Mississippi, and the fine leveled against the state has been rescinded. Needless to say, thousands of federal immigration agents have not been deployed to terrorize Mississippi cities. It could not be more apparent that Trump is not really concerned about fraud. This must be particularly galling to Minnesota and Illinois whose football teams were routinely demolished by Favre. Chicago and Minneapolis are under federal occupation while Favre and Mississippi go unpunished. California probably doesn't care as much because the 49ers generally had Favre's number.