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St. Paul, Minn.

Minn. Republicans try to clamp down on welfare fraud

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Republican lawmakers say they're going to clamp down on the use of electronic welfare cards issued by the state of Minnesota.

Freshman Republican Rep. Kurt Daudt said that he's introducing a bill to fix problems Republicans first pointed out in 2008. An investigation last year by KSTP-TV found the cards being used as far away as Hawaii and the Virgin Islands.

Daudt said his bill would stop that.

"It prohibits the use of EBT cards for liquor, tobacco and lottery tickets," he said. It also prohibits use of the EBT cards outside of the state of Minnesota. We also require in the bill that a photo ID be shown to make sure that the person that the card was issued to is the person using the card. And then we also limit or eliminate the ability to withdraw cash."

The bill doesn't include any penalties. DFLers said they have concerns about fraud too, but that most of the transactions made on the cards are legitimate and the human services department investigates any allegations of impropriety.