General Accounting Office Reviews of Domestic Food Assistance Programs

Testimony was given on GAO work relating to the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) domestic food assistance programs, including reports on: (1) overissued Food Stamp Program benefits; (2) wage matching, collections, and corrective action plans in the Food Stamp Program; (3) error-rate sanction systems for needs-based programs; (4) benefit targeting and related issues in the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); (5) School Lunch Program participation; and (6) the special commodity distribution program. Testimony was also presented on recently started work involving: (1) eligibility redeterminations in the Food Stamp and the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Programs; (2) food stamp benefit delivery systems; and (3) the authorization and monitoring of retail vendors in the Food Stamp and WIC Programs. Because of approximately $1 billion a year in overpayments in the Food Stamp Program, GAO concluded that states need to identify specific overissuance cases, institute collection action, and pursue suspected fraud. In a review of Food Stamp wage matching programs in five states, GAO found significant differences between employer-reported wage data and the household-reported earnings shown in case files due to mismanagement by the local offices. USDA and the states could provide better guidance and training on how to carry out wage-matching responsibilities. Similar difficulties were being experienced in the AFDC Program. In addition, GAO found that states have collected only about 1 percent of each overissued Food Stamp dollar and recommended that Congress amend the Food Stamp Act to provide for mandatory offset against benefits for overpayments caused by error and that states be required to recover overissuances against persons no longer receiving benefits. GAO has also found that program error-rate targets have differed, and sanctioned states have not paid the government for any sanctions assessed against them for Food Stamp or AFDC overpayments. USDA could do more to encourage the targeting of WIC benefits to those considered to be at the greatest nutritional risk. GAO reported a decline in participation in the School Lunch Program from 1979 to 1983 because fewer students ate full-price lunches; however, total federal expenditures for the program have increased. Finally, GAO reported on a lack of guidelines for the special commodity distribution program.