EDITORIAL: White House forces states to clean up food-stamp abuse

The threat of financial penalties has states scrambling to clean up their food stamp programs. For this, the White House deserves applause. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act features a number of worthwhile reforms, including a provision that imposes penalties on states that tolerate fraud in U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. According to the agency’s own figures, more than 10 percent of the money devoted to the program is wasted on “improper” payments, the vast majority of which went toward overpayments. The program cost $101.7 billion in fiscal 2025 — the feds pay for it, while the states administer it — meaning more than $10 billion went up in smoke. The new provisions, passed last year, go into effect next year. States with err