Fingerprinting for food stamps....
 

According to the NY Times, the state of New York will no longer fingerprint recipients of food stamps because of ".........because of the stigma associated with being fingerprinted." It is also reported that the fingerprinting reduces fraud amounting to 3.5 million per year !!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/ny...ps-in-nyc.html

Got me to looking around a bit and it seems that food stamp fraud is a big item. 46 million folks use food stamps and according to reports it is ripe for fraud and the US Govt knows it.

In the house this past month the Republicans were holding hearings on this matter, but it was being dismissed by the Democrats.

Sounds like a good idea. How many times do you think that a worker in a grocery store would know what to look for with respect to checking on someone's fingerprints to see if they are who they say they are? Would not photo ids be any easier thing to check? Bank tellers check photo i.d.s all the time but I have never seen them ask to see your fingerprints.

Bank tellers may want a thumb print but this is usually to catch someone who is already in a criminal database for passing bad checks or whatever.

Would not it be sufficient to just have food stamp recipients roll their thumb in an ink pad and have them push the thumbprint on a food stamp? If upon investigation it looks like fraud has been done, the authorities would have the thumb print.

Maybe a better idea would be to require a thumb print for driver's licenses, military i.d.s, and other types of identifications.

The House is holding hearings on anything and everything. :(

Kudos to Governor Cuomo - The Empire State will NOT exchange fingerprints for food.

This is just another Con job by the Cons to make it look like they are actually doing something when, in fact, this is the worse, most useless House in US history. Just a few more months of this nonsense.

Is the Republicans' fraud obsession for real?

Folks are trading their Food Stamp "money card" for drugs. The dealers are eating good. Children are going hungry though. Maybe the NY Gov's girlfriend could whip up some chow for the kids.

Anything that they can do to keep from working on a budget.

There was waaaaaaaaaaaay more fraud going on between Dick and Halibutron while we were looking for all those non-existent imaginary WMD's than during the entire history of the food stamp program.

If you Cons want to do something constructive, find all those billions and billions of dollars that disappeared in Iraq. Maybe you can locate those WMD's as well.

Oh give me a BREAK!!! The article says the fingerprinting has been done on APPLICANTS, not shoppers!!!!!!!

Teachers have to get fingerprinted to get their teaching license originally and for renewals. Does that make all of THEM "stigmatized" as likely child molesters?????????? Or how about nurses and doctors? Are THEY stigmatized as some kind of criminal for getting fingerprinted for licensure???

And as for "discouraging" the hungry from applying, the only people who would be "discouraged" from applying because of fingerprinting are those who are here in the USA illegally and they don't want to send up a red flag to immigration authorities.

ALBANY — New York City would have to stop requiring the electronic fingerprinting of food stamp applicants under regulations proposed on Thursday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo,

"Food Stamp Fraud Still Costs The US $750 Million Each Year"



"Record numbers of Americans have applied for food assistance since Obama took office, with 21 million households joining the so-called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2011–an increase of nearly 10 million from 2007."

Food Stamp Fraud Still Costs The US $750 Million Each Year - Business Insider

This from an editorial who takes execption with the generalities that are made by liberals all the time disallowing the american spirit.


"Americans, by and large, are proud and self-reliant people. To most, the idea of dependence upon the taxpayer’s munificence is repugnant and is in and of itself a strong incentive to avoid partaking in food subsidy programs. It is no wonder then, that millions individuals and families abstain from registering for the government’s assistance programs as a way of preserving their autonomous dignity. In many respects, it is the American thing to do. Only at The New York Times, however, would less than total participation in a food subsidy system be seen as a horrible travesty that is the product of a rapacious governor’s conspiracy to keep assistance from the people who need it. Without a shred of supporting evidence, Ms. Dowd and her colleagues have used this assumption to impugn both Mr. Cuomo and his system without just reason or cause, misinterpreting the unwillingness of millions to accept food stamps as their inability to. And to what end?"

"Nonetheless, an implicit association emerged: by making the application more-fraud resistant, Cuomo and his allies in the Statehouse are villains who are working ceaselessly to withhold food subsidies from their constituents. "

Irony and*Agriculture - Dartlog - The Dartmouth Review

This is a HUGE problem and it shows how the US government has lost total control...TOTAL !

Yeah. So let's hand them all healthcare delivery and financing.

Why don't we just pile money in baskets in federal buildings, and if people come in and say they're very needy, then they can just take what they need.

It's not far from the lack of scrutiny of people on the dole that we have now.

Wow, sounds like you are advocating...um.....communism. To each according to their needs? :1rotfl:

What's the point of fingerprinting food stamp applicants though? Do not other id verifications work just as well? Social security cards along with picture i.d. for instance. Teachers should be fingerprinted as should lawyers, physicians, and others who hold professional positions with a lot of authority. It would seem important to make sure that someone with a criminal record is not teaching our kids, doctoring us, or representing us in court.

1) Fingerprinting is demeaning? I had to be fingerprinted before I was allowed to take my jobs at Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments and the USAF. I had to submit to drug tests, background checks and, I would imagine, even a credit check or two might have been in the mix there somewhere. For my security clearance, they wanted to talk to someone I worked for 25 years ago who now happened to be in ISRAEL!

2) Fingerprint the applicant. You can match that against fingerprints for outstanding warrants. When someone is arrested under suspicion of a crime, they're fingerprinted. If they have a food stamp card and if that fingerprint doesn't match the one on file for the card, you have something else to prosecute.

I still believe that drug testing for Food Stamps is a great idea. I'm adding finger printing to that list.

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Personally, I have no problem with an applicant for food stamps to be fingerprinted. As I read the article, it is currently only New York City and the state of Arizona that fingerprints food stamp applicants. The purpose of the fingerprinting is to prevent applicants from applying more than one time which is a good idea. Social Security cards can be bought easily for duplicate applications so I believe fingerprinting is a very good idea to help cut down on the fraud.

Read the article and it does not say anything about fingerprint scanning at the grocery stores. It is only at the application time someone would be fingerprinted.

Looks like duplicate application could be controlled

Fingerprints Would Target Fraud in Food-Stamp Program

This lead me to the question-- Why are so few jurisdictions using fingerprinting on food stamp applicants?? Governments Abandon Fingerprinting for Food Stamps

The answer seems to be-- It does not sound like it was an effective tool to stop food stamp fraud and cutting this also saved costs.

It also looks like NY is putting in anti-fraud devices which outdate the need to fingerprint applicants for food stamps. Cuomo Putting End To Fingerprinting For Food Stamps | WWNY TV 7 - News, Weather and Sports for | Local News

Well, according to the state of NY, it saved 3.5 Million and nationwide there is fraud up to 750 million.

But everytime there is something like this, we will have the folks who say how the prevention of fraud is not sufficient reason to have people do something responsible that is required for folks who actually have jobs. THAT would be the reason.

This is not a non sympathetic view to those who need those programs. My assumption is that those who need food stamps know it....and would like it if the government stopped fraud in the program.

ANYTHING that smacks as an impediment to illegals or any other voting block will be struck or watered down so as to be a much easier to get hand out.

No mystery here.

The finger printing, demeaning BS is just that. Watch out for those who do not want voter identification or finger printing or any other CONTROL that would keep the cheaters out of the hand out stream. The whole subject is an insult to thinking people.

btk

If Florida has this many flaws in it's voting registration I shudder to think how much the Food Stamp system is being bilked.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/17/fl...-ineligible-2/

According to FOX News today Food Stamp recipients grew from 4 million to 53 million during the Bush and Obama Administration. The government continues to just throw money at problems and then walk away becuase they have no skin in the game sna they can always come back to us for more money

Governor Cuomo's decision is unpopular with many politicians on both sides because fraud and abuse in this program are far in excess of reported figures.

I am surprised that there are not many more posters incensed by he fact that the government is ignoring this issue