Starting in 2027, Michigan will be penalized hundreds of millions of dollars a year if state officials can’t reduce how many residents are paid the wrong amount of food assistance benefits.

The financial penalty is due to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” enacted earlier this year , and it was a focal point during the House Oversight Committee’s Tuesday meeting where members grilled Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel.

Michigan since 2022 has decreased its error rate for underpaid or overpaid Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps, from 13% that year to 9.5% last year. The state will face a penalty of about $310 million each year if efforts to drive down the error rate stagnate.

In th

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