The White House pleaded with state prosecutors on Tuesday to take fraud in government programs more seriously, saying the only way to wipe out an epidemic of scams is to send the signal that anyone committing them could face serious prison time.
Vice President J.D. Vance gathered attorneys general from 15 states, mostly Republicans, to ask for cooperation on an issue that’s become a major focus for the Trump administration.
Federal officials said they are doing what they can to stop money from wrongly going out the door in the first place, but said that until fraudsters believe they will face real penalties for their behavior, things won’t change.
“Our fraud detection systems will stop much of it but cannot stop it all,” said Andrew Ferguson, head of the Federal Trade Commission. “The only way to defeat the fraudsters is by making sure they know, every single one of them, that if they try to commit fraud, they will be pursued, arrested, prosecuted and jailed.”
Mr. Vance led the roundtable with attorneys general, calling it a bipartisan effort.
“Everybody should care about rooting out fraud,” he said.
The federal officials asked states to come forward with their data and manpower and work the cases together.
Mr. Ferguson said fraud is a symptom of a larger social breakdown.
“It’s become clear that huge groups of people in this country are taking advantage of our longstanding culture of trust to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people,” he said.
Mr. Ferguson said the country’s social benefit programs were established on a culture of trust. Government agencies generally accept someone’s self-reporting on eligibility.
But that’s broken down.
“The American people are right to long for a period where we could trust each other, but while we are living this way, the government must act now to protect American citizens and their social programs,” he said.
