Opinion ID: 352728
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Food Stamp Disqualification Regulation

Text: 27 The Food Stamp Act, 7 U.S.C.A. § 2011 et seq., was enacted to alleviate . . . hunger and malnutrition through a program designed to permit low-income households to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet through normal channels of trade. 7 U.S.C.A. § 2011. The program allows eligible recipients to purchase food stamp coupons at prices below their face value. These coupons may then be used at face value to purchase food at qualifying retail stores. 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(a). Except for administrative costs, which are borne by the states, the program is funded by the United States government. See 7 U.S.C.A. §§ 2024, 2025. 28 The Secretary of Agriculture was given the authority to formulate and administer the program that Congress described in general terms. 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(a). In particular, the Secretary was given the authority to issue such regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter, as he deems necessary or appropriate for the effective and efficient administration of the food stamp program. 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(c). Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary in 1971 promulgated the regulation in issue here: 29 . . . If the State agency finds that any eligible household has failed substantially to comply with the provisions of this part, the Plan of Operation, or any procedures or instructions issued by FNS or the State agency resulting in the fraudulent acquisition of coupons, such household may be disqualified from further participation in the program by the State agency for such period of time as the State agency shall determine. 30 7 C.F.R. § 271.7(e) (1977). Louisiana policy, consistent with this regulation, allows disqualification of a recipient who acquires coupons through fraudulent conduct for a length of time determined by the severity of the violation. 31 Plaintiffs shoulder the same heavy burden in attacking this administrator's interpretation of the statutory scheme he carries out. Johnson's Professional Nursing Home v. Weinberger, 490 F.2d 841 (5th Cir. 1974). Especially is that the case where the Secretary's statutory authority is as broad as it is in 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(c), which allows him to issue such regulations that he deems appropriate for the effective and efficient administration of the food stamp program. Cf. Mourning v. Family Publications Service, 411 U.S. 356, 93 S.Ct. 1652, 36 L.Ed.2d 318 (1973). 32 The disqualification regulation clearly is appropriate for the effective and efficient administration of the program. Even in the absence of explicit congressional authority, such powers have been held inherent and necessarily incidental to the effective administration of the statutory scheme. See Gonzalez v. Freeman, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 180, 187, 334 F.2d 570, 577 (1964). The regulation gives the administrative authorities a tool with which to protect the program from those who would abuse it. As the district court noted, the integrity of such a program must depend in large measure upon the accuracy and honesty in fact of applicants and recipients. This regulation, as it is embodied in Louisiana policy, encourages accuracy and honesty and it therefore is an appropriate administrative tool. Unless Congress has specifically removed this administrative power from the Secretary, or unless the regulation is inconsistent with (the Act), 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(c), the regulation must be upheld. 33 Plaintiffs' first attack on the disqualification regulation centers around the legislative history of the Act. Plaintiffs point out that Congress in 1964 expressly provided criminal sanctions for dealing with recipient fraud in the Food Stamp Act itself, see 7 U.S.C.A. § 2023, but it did not provide for termination from the program in such event. Therefore, they urge the conclusion must follow that Congress, deeming these criminal penalties sufficient, removed from the Secretary any authority to terminate needy households because of fraud. 34 Another indication that Congress did not intend the Secretary to have authority to issue the fraud termination regulation is said to be Congress' rejection of a bill containing a specific provision mandating termination for fraud during its consideration of the 1971 amendments to the Food Stamp Act. Finally, plaintiffs point out that the Food Stamp Act was amended by Title XIII of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, Pub.L.No.95-113 (Sept. 29, 1977), to prohibit participation in the program for specified periods of time by individuals who have fraudulently procured or used food stamp coupons. Plaintiffs' argument is that this subsequent legislative consideration and enactment of such provisions would have been unnecessary if Congress had already given the Secretary the power to disqualify by regulation. 35 This legislative history does not indicate that Congress withheld from the Secretary the authority to promulgate the regulation in issue here. Neither before nor after the Secretary adopted the attacked regulation has Congress acted to expressly negate the power which the Secretary claims. The power to disqualify on account of fraud is inherent in the effective administration of such a program, and therefore is expressly within the authority given to the Secretary in 7 U.S.C. § 2013(c). That Congress provided specific criminal penalties for dealing with fraud does not mean that Congress meant to prohibit utilization of the reasonable administrative device of termination for fraud. There is no requirement that such inherent administrative powers be prescribed with the specificity required for penalty provisions. See Gonzalez v. Freeman, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 180, 187-88, 334 F.2d 570, 577-78 (1964); cf. L. P. Steuart & Bro. v. Bowles, 322 U.S. 398, 64 S.Ct. 1097, 88 L.Ed. 1350 (1944). 36 Nor do congressional actions in 1971 and 1977 yield the conclusion that plaintiffs would have us draw. That a later Congress seeks to grant expressly a power which an earlier Congress has granted by implication does not negate the existence of the power prior to the express grant. Cf. United States v. Southwestern Cable Co., 392 U.S. 157, 169-71, 88 S.Ct. 1994, 2001-02, 20 L.Ed.2d 1001 (1968). Similarly, the failure of the House of Representatives in 1971 to pass a bill which included a section providing for termination for fraud cannot be interpreted as an affirmative withdrawal of a power that had already been granted, especially since the termination provision was only one of many parts of the defeated bill. Given the Secretary's broad grant of authority by Congress in 1964 and the inherent nature of the power to disqualify for fraud in the power to administer, we cannot interpret Congress' action in 1971 and 1977 as establishing that the Secretary before 1977 was without power to issue the attacked regulation. 37 Plaintiffs next attack the disqualification regulation as a condition of eligibility not authorized by the Food Stamp Act. In the Act itself Congress has specified eligibility standards, the most important of which is need. See 7 U.S.C. §§ 2011, 2014(a). Others include the household limitation, defined in 7 U.S.C. § 2012(e), and a work requirement for able-bodied adults. 7 U.S.C. § 2014(c). Congress did not provide for fraud disqualification, and plaintiffs argue that such an eligibility requirement is invalid since it is not related to the congressional goal of feeding needy people. 38 To the extent that the fraud disqualification regulation is used to recoup the value of food stamp coupons fraudulently acquired, we uphold the policy for the same reasons stated in Part I of this opinion upholding the AFDC recoupment regulation. Not only is recoupment an appropriate administrative tool, but the government also has a common law right to recoup value fraudulently obtained from it. The exercise of such a right does not deny aid to eligible households but rather enforces the eligibility standards that Congress set. To the extent that the period of disqualification results in recoupment, the household over a period of time receives exactly the value of coupons to which it is entitled by the program's eligibility standards. 39 The regulation goes farther than recoupment, however, and allows disqualification for such period of time as the State agency shall determine. The policy of the Louisiana agency determines that the length of the disqualification is to be measured by the severity of the violation. The state agency in this case has thus reasonably interpreted the regulation to provide a limited discretion. It does not claim the arbitrary prerogative to disqualify a household forever. Using the severity of the offense to determine the length of disqualification is a proper application of the regulation's authority. This aspect of the regulation is valid if the state agency, on a case-by-case basis, can demonstrate that disqualification for a period of time longer than that necessary for recoupment is reasonably related to the efficient administration of the program. 40 While it is true that Congress intended to feed the needy through the food stamp program, it is equally true that Congress intended the program to be operated efficiently and free from fraud. Making ineligible for a period of time those who have abused the program is a valid administrative tool that furthers the integrity of the program and insures that the program benefits are made available to the truly needy. Plaintiffs' argument that the regulation is an eligibility requirement unrelated to congressional purposes must fail. 41 Finally, we reject plaintiffs' argument that the regulation is invalid because it fails to establish a uniform national standard of eligibility. The fact that the regulation does make some households temporarily ineligible to receive food stamp coupons does not make it an eligibility standard or affect those standards as otherwise set. The regulation functions primarily as an administrative tool, and thus its existence and use is entirely proper. Giving the states this degree of flexibility in administering the program is both desirable and reasonable. The regulation is a valid exercise of the broad authority given to the Secretary and is not inconsistent with the Act. 42 The district court's denial of injunctive relief is 43 AFFIRMED.