JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The White House says it has a new approach to combating waste, fraud and abuse in government. The president and vice president jointly announced a new tip line where Americans can be rewarded for reporting spending misconduct.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If you turn somebody in, and you, let's say, report, and you find a billion dollars, we are giving a commission to that person of 1%.
SUMMERS: NPR's Emily Feng explains.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Last week, Vice President JD Vance got up in front of a crowd in Ohio and announced his anti-fraud task force had found millions of dollars of fraudulent benefits claims, this time in the federal food assistance program SNAP.
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JD VANCE: We find that there are people out there who decide to commit fraud against these programs who, quite literally in this case, will steal from the mouths of hungry children in order to enrich themselves.
FENG: Combating fraud in federal services like Medicaid and SNAP has become a signature project of the vice president. And more broadly, corruption has increasingly become a focus of President Trump, as well, in the lead-up to the midterm elections.
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TRUMP: Because the kind of money that's been stolen is trillions from this country by crooked politicians.
FENG: A recent Fox News survey found nearly 90% of Americans are concerned with perceived corruption in government - figures that are mirrored nearly exactly by a September Gallup poll, as well.
RAY LA RAJA: I believe this is pretty much off the charts.
FENG: That's Ray La Raja, professor of political science at University of Massachusetts Amherst who surveyed Americans in September on corruption and found the same nearly universal concern.
LA RAJA: But it's especially powerful when people are already upset about the issue that usually motivates voters, and that's the economy.
FENG: Despite his work on fraud, Vice President Vance has been explicit he is not concerned about any potential abuse by the president himself, speaking here in this televised town hall earlier this month.
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VANCE: Donald Trump - I have not seen a single shred of evidence that he participates or sanctions in that corruption. By the way, this guy was a billionaire before he ever got into politics.
FENG: Trump's more than tripled his wealth since starting his second term, per The New York Times. And one expert estimated to NPR that his wealth has increased, conservatively, by about $4 billion since taking office a second time. And so Democrats are trying to make the case that corruption starts with the president.
LA RAJA: Democrats overwhelmingly say it's the presidency, by far.
FENG: La Raja, again. By contrast, Republicans, he says, agree corruption and fraud are problems, but they argue it's systemic, embedded in federal bureaucracy.
LA RAJA: The Republican administration is looking at the type of fraud that happens by government or people who are trying to do fraudulent claims on the government.
FENG: Christopher Miller, who teaches public policy at the University of Richmond, says that's why Vance's anti-fraud task force focuses on benefits fraud.
CHRISTOPHER MILLER: Punching down at, you know, less-advantaged populations.
FENG: Those who apply, for example, for food or medical aid, and this is not a new tactic.
MILLER: Waste, fraud and abuse - I mean, that is a popular political phrase or slogan going back at least in the 1970s.
FENG: But Miller argues Vance's anti-fraud work is also about setting himself up and setting himself apart from Trump to run for president himself in 2028. But distancing himself from Trump is hard, says Jody Baumgartner, a political science professor at East Carolina University, who has written extensively about the history of the vice presidency.
JODY BAUMGARTNER: If you have a good idea, it's the president's idea. If you disagree with the president, shut up.
FENG: But unlike some vice presidents given a purely supportive role, Vance has carved out a portfolio of his own.
BAUMGARTNER: When 2028 rolls around, and he starts his campaign - 'cause you know he's running, right? - he's going to be able to point to this stuff.
FENG: To his anti-fraud work, in particular, and saying he did something about the problem.
Emily Feng, NPR News, Washington.
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