In response to an investigation that reveals residents of Missouri receiving welfare benefits are spending taxpayer money in top vacation spots, a state lawmaker introduced a bill requiring in-state purchases.

Rep. Mark Parkinson, St. Charles

Rep. Mark Parkinson, a Republican from from St. Charles, introduced House Bill 816 on Wednesday. The bill would require all purchases made by public assistance recipients to be in-state purchases only.

Documents provided by the Missouri Department of Social Services reveal that Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, which allow states to provide benefits via a plastic debit card, were used by welfare recipients to withdraw $362,682 in cash outside of Missouri in January. The cards were also used to purchase $3.5 million worth of food outside Missouri.

While many of the purchases were in neighboring states — Missouri borders eight states — many charges were in hard to reach places, including vacation spots such as Florida, California and even Hawaii.

In Florida, Missouri EBT users purchased $84,061 in food and withdrew $9,737 from automated teller machines. In California, EBT users from the Show-Me State purchased $69,672 worth of food and withdrew $7,818 from ATMs. And in Hawaii, Missouri EBT users spent $2,737 on food and withdrew $175 in cash from ATMs in January.

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, St. Louis

There are many perfectly understandable reasons why Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, funds might be spent outside of Missouri, said Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, a Democrat from St. Louis.

“Having grown up on the Ohio River in southern Illinois, I know that the closest place to get cheaper groceries for many of us was across the river in Kentucky,” she told Missouri Watchdog. ”I am sure that some folks in Hannibal may need to shop in Quincy, Illinois to get a better deal on some items with their very limited TANF funds.”

Oxford also noted that people using TANF have relatives who live in other states and the recipient may have to go provide emergency care to a family member. “TANF recipients are so poor they seldom travel for vacations, but many human beings do have loved ones in another state and need to see them now and then,” she said.

Many TANF recipients have also experienced domestic violence, Oxford said. “If a battered woman needs to flee to another state with her children in order to get away from her abuser and get re-established elsewhere, I would want TANF funds to be available to her until she gets her caseload transferred over to her new state,” she said.

Sen. Rob Mayer, Dexter

Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, a Republican from Dexter, sent a letter to Sen. Jim Lembke, a Republican from St. Louis County, on Monday calling for an investigation into allegations concerning food stamp fraud in Missouri. Lembke is chairman of the Senate Governmental Accountability Committee.

“It has recently come to my attention that Missouri EBT cardholders are not required to show identification when purchasing food with said cards,” Mayer writes in the letter, which appears in Monday’s Journal of the Senate. ”I have also learned that Missouri EBT cards were used in all fifty states this past January. While it is conceivable for cards to be used in border states, it does appear strange that Missouri’s cards were used in every state,” Mayer adds.

An earlier investigation of public documents revealed that 31 recipients in one household received food stamps totaling $2.476 in November in Missouri. In January, 19 people in one household received payments totaling $2,185.

The welfare program is 100 percent federally funded. However, the administrative costs are shared with the states, totaling around $50 million in Missouri each year, matched with $53 million in federal funds.

By Brian R. Hook, brhook@missouriwatchdog.org, (314) 482-7944

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