House Republican duo calls for fraud probe into federal anti-poverty program

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two Republican members of Congress say the federal government should investigate potential fraud in one of its largest anti-poverty programs. In a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodoro made public Monday by Mississippi’s state auditor, U.S. Reps. Jason Smith, of Missouri, and Darin LaHood, of Illinois, say the Government Accountability Office should review non-assistance spending in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The TANF program provides about $16.5 billion in federal funding to states for services intended to help families who cannot afford their basic needs. Smith and LaHood link their concerns about fraud to Mississippi’s welfare scandal, in which authorities say $77 million of federal welfare funds were improperly diverted to the wealthy.