AUGUSTA — In a letter dated Monday, Maine Commissioner of Health and Human Services Mary Mayhew is petitioning the state’s congressional delegation for their help in reforming federal welfare laws.

“The people of Maine are concerned about the proliferation of welfare benefits and the seeming lack of reasonable limits on their use,” Mayhew wrote in the letter. “We have taken major steps toward reforming Maine’s welfare system where possible, but there is a limit to what we can do without action from the federal government.”

Mayhew sent the letter four days after receiving word from the federal government that the state was at risk of losing roughly $9 million in federal funding for the administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as “food stamps.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services division, the agency responsible for the oversight of SNAP, says several changes are necessary to the state’s new photo ID requirement for food stamp recipients to keep it from running afoul of federal guidelines. FNS also says the current implementation of the photo ID component could represent a civil rights violation.

Mayhew and the feds have clashed over the new program since April. She and Gov. Paul LePage say the photo ID requirement will help ensure the integrity of the program and prevent illegal trafficking of electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards — the debit-like system used by welfare recipients to access SNAP funds and other benefits.

Undeterred, DHHS implemented the photo ID requirement statewide in June, after a brief test run in the Bangor area in April.

Mayhew’s letter was addressed to Maine’s two U.S. senators, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, and to Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree and Republican Rep.-elect Bruce Poliquin.

Mayhew also included a list of 15 recommendations for SNAP reform she presented earlier this month to the State Human Services Secretaries’ Innovation Group, a collection of like-minded public welfare chiefs from around the country, of which she is a member.

The list included recommendations for federal reforms that would limit SNAP’s use and greatly increase states’ oversight of the program, including a ban on the use of funds for candy and soda, a requirement that retailers provide transaction data to state officials, limits on the number of replacement cards and new enforcement authority for the state to investigate and prosecute retail fraud, an authority currently held solely by the federal government.

The federal government pays the full cost of SNAP benefits — roughly $370 million in Maine last year — and half the cost of administration. Maine spent about $9.8 million on SNAP last year to cover the other half.

Pingree said Monday instances of fraud in the system are at “an all-time low” and that it makes sense for the USDA to set the rules because SNAP is funded so overwhelmingly by federal dollars.

“Since 100 percent of SNAP benefits are paid for by the federal government and not states, it is the responsibility of the USDA to make sure the program is administered in a fair way that does not unnecessarily discourage eligible families from applying for benefits,” she said. “We should always keep in mind the goal of the SNAP program is to help families who have fallen on hard times put food on the table.”

Poliquin, the first Republican elected in the 2nd Congressional District in 20 years, said through a spokesman Monday he supports Mayhew and LePage’s welfare reform proposals.

“In the near future, Rep.-elect Bruce Poliquin will meet with Gov. LePage to discuss those specific changes to federal-state welfare programs deemed to be most helpful to Maine families and taxpayers,” spokesman Matt Hutson said. “Mr. Poliquin wants to be fully prepared to consider and advocate for beneficial welfare reforms upon being sworn-in to Congress on Jan. 6.”

In a joint statement, Collins and King said they received Mayhew’s letter and were reviewing it but offered no further comment.