Vice President J.D. Vance announced a new state-federal alliance with 15 state attorneys general offices aimed at combating fraud across government programs and protecting taxpayer dollars.
Vance said the effort brings together federal officials and state legal authorities to strengthen investigations, prosecutions and fraud prevention efforts.
He described the partnership as a practical way to use the expertise of attorneys general who understand what is happening inside their own states.
“Thanks to all of you for being here,” Vance said.
“Very gratified and proud of the fact that we have 15 different state AG offices represented here today, who are focused on helping us in combating fraud all over our government.”
Vance said the effort is designed to supplement federal resources with state-level legal and prosecutorial experience.
“And very brief here about what we’re trying to do here,” Vance said.
“So one of the things we’ve realized in combating fraud is that the resources of the federal government, while vast, can be supplemented and aided by a lot of the people who know best what’s happening in their states, which is the attorneys general represented here today.”
According to Vance, attorneys general bring important legal resources to the fight against fraud, including prosecutorial authority and familiarity with local patterns of abuse.
“And they have a lot of legal resources, they have a lot of prosecutorial resources, and of course they have the desire to prevent fraud as much as we do,” Vance said.
Vance said the state and federal governments will work together to identify and prevent fraudulent activity.
“And so I appreciate these leaders for being here, because we’re going to work together, state and federal government to try to combat fraud,” Vance said.
He also emphasized that the initiative is not intended to be partisan.
Vance pointed to representatives from Connecticut and Oregon as examples of broader participation in the effort.
“I’m particularly gratified here that this is not a partisan effort,” Vance said.
“I believe we have a couple of representatives from the Attorney Generals in Connecticut and Oregon.”
Vance said fraud prevention should be a shared goal across political lines because taxpayers and legitimate government programs are harmed when funds are stolen.
“And as I’ve said repeatedly, this is not need to be,” Vance said.
“This should not be a partisan effort.”
Vance said every official should be focused on stopping fraud and protecting taxpayer money.
“Everybody should care about fraud, everybody should care about rooting out fraud, everybody should care about saving the American taxpayers money,” Vance said.
He also said preventing fraud is necessary to protect programs that depend on proper funding.
“And importantly, everybody should care about actually protecting the programs that only work and are only properly funded if it’s not, if the money funding those programs isn’t being stolen by fraudsters,” Vance said.
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The remarks came as Vance and state attorneys general moved to coordinate anti-fraud efforts across multiple levels of government.
The alliance is intended to combine federal resources with state enforcement experience to identify abuse, recover taxpayer money and preserve funding for programs that serve eligible Americans.