Vice President JD Vance convened the first meeting of the new White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud on Friday, warning that large-scale abuse of federal benefit programs is far more widespread than previously recognized.
Speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, Vance highlighted a massive fraud scandal in Minnesota as a stark example of a problem he said is repeating across states and multiple government programs. “What we’re seeing in Minneapolis is replayed again and again across many different states and across many different programs,” he declared. “It has to stop. The president has ordered us to stop it, and that’s exactly what this task force is going to do.”
The task force, formally established by President Donald Trump via executive order and announced during his State of the Union address, aims to create a coordinated national strategy to detect, prevent, and prosecute fraud in federally funded initiatives. These include food assistance, housing support, medical care, and other public benefits programs often administered jointly with states.
Vance described the effort as a “whole-government approach,” uniting senior officials from across federal agencies. “This is not just the theft of the American people’s money,” he said. “It is also the theft of critical services that the American people rely on.”
Key members include Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson as vice chair, senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, and Justice Department officials leading a newly created division dedicated to fraud prosecutions. Each federal agency will now audit its own programs, strengthen safeguards such as improved identity verification, and pursue targeted investigations into suspicious claims.
The push comes amid revelations of extensive fraud in Minnesota, where federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion in taxpayer funds may have been improperly siphoned from state-administered social service programs since 2018. More than 100 individuals have been charged, with dozens already convicted. Many cases allegedly involved exploitation of pandemic-era relief through nonprofits and other entities.
Vance argued that existing oversight has failed to match increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes. “We’ve got allies across every major significant department,” he added, “and we are going to stop the fraud that’s being committed against the American people.”
Ferguson echoed the urgency, calling the fraud crisis “existential.” “If we fail to address it, the fabric of our nation will swiftly unravel,” he warned.
The initiative intersects with ongoing debates over immigration enforcement, state-level program accountability, and federal spending priorities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Administration officials say the scale of the problem demands a more specialized response beyond traditional prosecution channels.
Vance, taking a prominent role in one of the administration’s signature domestic priorities, framed the task force as essential to protecting both taxpayer dollars and the integrity of vital public services. “It’s happening across the country,” he concluded, “and we’re going to stop it.”
