The government squanders somewhere between $233 to $521 billion to fraud every year

Friend, the government squanders somewhere between $233 to $521 billion to fraud every year. Those are unacceptable numbers — you deserve better.

The fraud scandal in Minnesota has had the nation’s attention. Rightfully so. Our government has the responsibility to protect your hard-earned tax dollars and ensure precious resources are reaching the people they are meant to reach.

But painting the egregious waste of your tax dollars as a problem specific to Minnesota, the Feeding our Future program, or a particular community is just political theater — not a good-faith effort to fix the problem.

Fraud is pervasive in our federal government. It is not just in Minnesota; it is everywhere. And a systemic problem demands system-wide fixes.

POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette testified to Congress about fraud and theft in federal spending yesterday. In his testimony, he argued that focusing on individual instances instead of the systemic problems that allow this fraud to occur is like “bailing out a boat without bothering to find and patch the leaks: it will produce a lot of activity and draw a lot of attention, but ultimately, it’s no real help to anyone.”

POGO has been at the forefront of the effort to expose and cut government waste for more than four decades. We take the waste of your tax dollars very seriously. And we are urging Congress to be serious in its approach, too. A laser focus on one politicized instance certainly will not fix the problem.

Read our recommendations for addressing the crises of fraud and waste on pogo.org. And catch Dylan’s testimony to Congress on the House subcommittee’s website.

Your government should be a responsible shepherd of your tax dollars, and we will continue fighting for the oversight mechanisms built to prevent this flagrant corruption.

— POGO https://prod.cdn.everyaction.com/emails/van/PGO/PGO/1/78922/WwJsbYyqRRer7Roy94Mp_YrqkBZlZcrNimMOPTDirrC_archive?emci=be213ce4-f7f6-f011-8d4c-0022482d279b&emdi=16f3b098-c4f7-f011-8d4c-0022482d279b&ceid=29200