Republican lawmakers repeatedly pushed Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday over his handling of the Feeding Our Future scandal, which federal prosecutors have described as the nation’s largest COVID scam, involving $250 million for meals supposedly going to the hungry.
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee, Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison faced questions about findings cited by Republicans that more than $9 billion in social service fraud has occurred under their watch. Both Democrats have claimed they took appropriate actions to combat and root out fraud.
“For years, Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison presided over one of the most extensive breakdowns of oversight this committee has ever examined. Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen from social service programs while warnings piled up, whistleblowers spoke out, and state officials chose delay and denial over action,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) said. “Federal prosecutors estimate that as much as $9 billion may have been stolen from just 14 Medicaid programs administered by the state of Minnesota.”
The suspected fraud made up about half of the $18 billion distributed through the programs since 2018, Comer said. One notable example of fraud was the Feeding Our Future scam, in which fraudsters, some of whom were Somali nationals, billed the government for $250 million in meals that were never distributed.
During the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pressed Walz on why payments to Feeding Our Future resumed just one month after the Minnesota Department of Education suspended them over suspected irregularities.
Walz said they restarted because the agency said that the “court had required them to make those payments.”
Jordan then pointed to a statement from the Minnesota Judicial Branch saying Walz had made inaccurate statements about the payments and that the court “never ordered” them to restart.
“The attorneys at the Department of Education interpreted that differently. Both of those judges are no longer on the bench,” Walz said.
Walz was also asked about allegations that his office retaliated against whistleblowers who raised concerns about the state’s handling of fraud. Some have claimed they were told to stay silent over fears of being perceived as “racist” or “Islamophobic.”
“I can’t speak to what they said. I can tell you it didn’t happen,” Walz told Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) when asked about claims his office retaliated against whistleblowers.
The Trump administration has paused hundreds of millions in federal funding to Minnesota social service programs, citing widespread fraud concerns.
Vice President JD Vance, who has been tasked by President Trump with leading efforts to combat federal fraud, announced last week that $260 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota had been paused pending further review.
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