Name: Video: Accusations fly in GOP-led congressional hearing into Minnesota fraud cases
Description: Minnesota’s reckoning with social services program fraud landed in a congressional hearing Wednesday. Republicans accused DFL Gov. Tim Walz of being complicit or unresponsive. Democrats called it a political exercise that ignores President Donald Trump’s pardons of convicted fraudsters.

Wintry mix Thursday night, another storm Friday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Minnesota’s reckoning with social services program fraud landed before Congress on Wednesday in a hearing where Republicans accused Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of being complicit or unresponsive. Democrats labeled it a political exercise that ignores President Donald Trump’s pardons of convicted fraudsters.

The hearing, which featured testimony from three Minnesota Republican legislators, comes days after Walz dropped his bid for a third term with a pledge to focus intensely on fraud in his final year. It also follows the Trump administration’s actions to freeze billions of dollars in aid for welfare, child care and health care assistance to Minnesota and other Democratic-led states.

U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer opened the hearing with a searing indictment of Minnesota leaders for failing to prevent ripoffs of taxpayer money, which has sometimes gone to luxury homes, vehicles and vacations rather than critical services.

“The breadth and depth of this fraud is breathtaking, and I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said before blasting Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison directly as being “asleep at the wheel or complicit in these crimes. How could they allow this massive fraud to go on for years?”

In his opening remarks, California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said the hearing called by majority Republicans failed to put any concentration on fraud exposed in GOP-led states and in the federal government.

“Republicans also have a president who has pardoned or reduced jail time for 25 criminals convicted of fraud in this year alone. Now, some of these fraudsters have made also huge campaign contributions to Donald Trump,” Garcia said, adding that the pardons have relieved those convicted of paying restitution to victims. 

He added, the Trump-pardoned offenses “dwarfs much of the fraud that the House majority wants to talk about today.”

Democrats said the suspension of funds for key services to Democratic-led states could harm people who rely on the subsidized child care, nutrition aid or health coverage. The Trump administration said it will require more proof that money is going out properly, although some of those standards are not yet clear.

Three Minnesota Republican legislators took center stage at the hearing. They sit on a recently established legislative panel designed to look into whistleblower claims, state agency failures and other matters related to allegations of fraud.

State Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, said instances of fraud have become pervasive across state government and federal investigators are swamped with targets.

“Whatever the actual number is the full scope of the problem is not just criminal fraud, but a culture of profiting from government programs in perpetuity, not as a safety net, but as an industry,” Hudson said.

Also present were GOP Rep. Kristin Robbins of Maple Grove, a candidate for governor, and Rep. Marion Rarick of Maple Lake. 

In remarks to the committee, Rarick accused the Walz administration of trying to silence  agency employees trying to expose problems. Conveying assertions of former Department of Human Services employees, Rarick said those “who suggest improvements — or heaven forbid — report fraud, then face significant retaliations.” 

U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer joined in the questioning despite not being on the committee. He lit into Walz, other Democrats and Minnesota entities that he said were too lax in combatting real fraud threats.

“Do you have any doubt that Governor Tim Walz knew about this fraud as it was occurring?” Emmer asked Rarick as part of a series of questions.

“He absolutely knew that it was occurring,” she responded without hesitation.

Emmer then moved to tie the instances of proven or alleged fraud to immigration policy, particularly those of Somali descent that he said were being protected by Democrats.

Hudson suggested it was done to please a voting bloc.

“In my opinion, because it was politically beneficial to Democrats,” Hudson asserted.

The hearing included several questions about cases involving Somali Minnesotans who receive public benefits or operate businesses that tap into state-run programs that rely on federal dollars.

Comer referenced statistics that a large number of defendants in the Feeding Our Future nutrition aid scheme were of Somali descent. He linked the numbers to an ongoing operations by federal authorities in Minnesota, which ramped up even more this week.

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is on the ground conducting investigations of suspected fraud sites in Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has frozen child care payments and started requiring documentation to prove entities are indeed providing child care,” Comer said.

Democratic Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania said the actions have come off as largely political.

"Republicans have cherrypicked a blue state and an immigrant population vulnerable to demonize. To be clear, Minnesota is not the only state with a fraud problem,” she said. “To truly tackle waste, fraud and abuse, we need to approach the issue with a scalpel, not a mallet."

Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a Maryland Democrat, said the nods toward race were disturbing.

“It was concerning to me also to have heard some of the xenophobia that began earlier in this hearing. Mr. Chairman,” Mfume said. “Differences, differences versus similarities. And when we do that, we create the problems that we always are trying to do away with asking witnesses to give their opinion of Somalis as a general group of Americans.”

The oversight committee has already requested interviews with leaders from many Minnesota departments that oversee programs affected by fraud. 

The committee sent letters to former Department of Human Services Commissioners Jodi Harpstead and Tony Lourey; former Department of Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker; and other leaders in both those departments, both current and former.

Those letters request in person transcribed interviews from each of them over the next month. The committee has also requested all documents and emails from the governor and the attorney general regarding organizations accused of fraud and departments affected by fraud.

Next month, the same committee has called for Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, both Democrats, to testify about their roles in combatting fraud. Neither Ellison nor Walz have committed to appearing, but aides to both say the possibility remains under discussion.

Some of the Republican lawmakers at the hearing, including Comer, said charges should be considered against top Minnesota officials just after noting that Walz was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2024. 

“If people don't go to jail for this, this will continue, not just in Minnesota, but other states,” Comer said.

Politics and Government News

NewsPartners

Homepage

Fraud in Minnesota

Peter Cox

Author

Minnesota’s reckoning with social services program fraud landed in a congressional hearing Wednesday. Republicans accused DFL Gov. Tim Walz of being complicit or unresponsive. Democrats called it a political exercise that ignores President Donald Trump’s pardons of convicted fraudsters.

U.S. House committee holds hearings on fraud in Minnesota with three Republican lawmakers as the main witnesses. MPR News streamed the hearing online.

Accusations fly in GOP-led congressional hearing into Minnesota fraud cases

Four people sit at a desk for a congressional hearing.

Accusations fly in GOP-led congressional hearing into Minnesota fraud cases

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox