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Siskiyou County warns of potential federal funding freeze under 'Defend the Spend'; staff outline welfare-fraud work
Summary
County Social Services told the Board a federal inquiry called the "Defend the Spend" initiative could temporarily freeze about $350,000 in county-administered federal benefits; staff also summarized EBT and other welfare-fraud investigations and recent prosecutions.
Siskiyou County Social Services Director Trish Barbieri told the Board on Feb. 17 that the Federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "Defend the Spend" initiative has asked five states for documents and could lead to frozen federal funds that would affect county programs. Barbieri said the county’s exposure could be about $350,000 and that the statewide impact cited in staff materials was roughly $5 billion.
The presentation, continued by Deputy Director of Administrative Services Kirk Hendricks, estimated the county-level impact at about 330 cases involving roughly 844 clients and summarized recent procedural developments: a Temporary Restraining Order and an injunction have paused any immediate funding freeze while the legal matter proceeds.
Why it matters: Social Services administers programs that provide cash, food and child-care assistance to low- and moderate-income residents. A pause or suspension of federal funding could interrupt benefits and related services for hundreds of local clients, county staff said.
Staff also used the presentation to review the division’s fraud-detection and prosecution work. Deputy Director Corey Watson and District Attorney Investigator Jesus Fernandez described categories of fraud the county tracks, including EBT card scamming, skimming and trafficking, internal staff fraud and client fraud. Fernandez summarized training and the Special Investigations Unit’s role and highlighted three recent welfare-fraud prosecutions handled in 2025.
Barbieri said the county is concerned about the possibility that personally identifiable information could be included in federal document requests. She emphasized that counties must follow federal regulations and that federal audits will determine compliance and eligibility for funds. Board members pressed staff on how much of the impacted funding is administrative versus direct benefits, the expected federal audit process, and how case counts are reported by supervisorial district.
The Board did not take formal action on the presentations. Chair Ray A. Haupt requested that Social Services include welfare-fraud data in quarterly reports and asked staff to provide recipient counts and benefit totals broken down by supervisorial district at a future reporting date.
Quotes: "[The initiative] cites allegations of widespread fraud in state-administered programs," Social Services Director Trish Barbieri said as she summarized the federal request and the county’s possible exposure.
Next steps: Social Services will include fraud metrics in its quarterly report to the Board and prepare the requested district-level breakdown of recipients and benefits. No motion or vote followed the presentation.
