Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration has identified $230 billion in fraudulent government payments and already prevented $56 billion from being disbursed, calling the anti-fraud effort one of the administration’s top domestic priorities.
Speaking during President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, Vance said the task force he leads had uncovered widespread abuse across federal programs while protecting taxpayer money and benefits for vulnerable Americans. The meeting was the first Cabinet gathering at the presidential retreat to be broadcast live on television, according to Trump.
“Just since the beginning of the Fraud Task Force that I started under the President’s leadership and direction, we have identified $230 billion of fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American people, and we have halted already $56 billion of that,” Vance said.
He said preventing improper payments before money leaves the Treasury had become a central objective. “It’s sometimes hard. Once the money has already gone out the door, it’s hard to get it back. But stopping it from going out the door is how we saved the American people $56 billion,” he said.
Vance also announced fresh enforcement measures. “Just today, Mr President, we will announce 17 new anti-fraud actions that will total about a third of a billion dollars, and that’s in addition to the $230 billion that we’ve already uncovered,” he said.
Using a Medicaid-funded neonatal care program as an example, Vance said fraudulent claims by companies had diverted resources away from low-income mothers and newborns. “So we’ve seen moms and babies unable to access the health care that they need because the fraudsters have gotten rich. That is a disgrace,” he said, arguing that both taxpayers and intended beneficiaries lose when fraud goes unchecked.
Trump praised the task force’s work, saying the amounts recovered were unprecedented. “Billions, think of that, not millions, billions of dollars are being recovered. Billions. And you haven’t seen anything yet,” the president said. “The level of corruption and fraud that took place under the Biden administration was unprecedented.” He also claimed investigators had uncovered significant fraud in several states, including Minnesota, California and Maine, without providing details.
The announcements come roughly a year after Vance launched the task force under Trump’s direction, part of a broader administration push to cut federal spending. Vance credited the president for the effort: “Until the President ordered us to stop it, no one was doing anything about it. We’ve made a lot of progress, Mr President, in just under a year, but we’re going to keep on working at it because we believe the American people deserve to have their money spent as you and the Congress have directed.”
Sources: Telangana Today (IANS), One America News Network, New York Post
Author: USA Desk
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