The entire Senate GOP demanded that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz provide a paper trail on the state’s role in the Minnesota fraud scandal, cranking up the scrutiny in Washington, D.C. in the process.
In a letter led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Republicans reiterated that Congress controls the flow of taxpayer dollars that are alleged to be used in the unfurling scandal, where federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion was stolen through a network of fraudulent fronts posing as daycare centers, food programs and health clinics.
‘The state’s apparent negligent management of federal funds raises significant concerns about the adequacy of the state’s oversight, verification, and compliance systems for safeguarding taxpayer dollars intended to support vulnerable children and working families,’ they wrote. ‘Unfortunately, these latest reports appear to reflect only the tip of the iceberg.’
They support the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) move earlier this week to freeze funding to several childcare grant programs in the state, including the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Social Services Block Grant programs.
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called on Walz to provide receipts on several issues and warned that failure to do so could lead to even more streams of federal money flowing to Minnesota drying up.
In the letter, backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., lawmakers demanded that Walz clarify how the state was complying with federally directed audits and what verification requirements the state has ‘adopted or plans to implement in the near term to support proof of legitimate use of federal child care payments.’
They also called for a detailed outline of several issues, like how often the state conducted on-site monitoring, inspections or investigative visits to childcare facilities that received federal dollars, and specifically wanted examples of any information uncovered on fake children, false attendance records, over-billing, ineligible enrollments and shell or fake business structures.
Lawmakers also demanded to know how many investigations the state has conducted into the matter since 2018, any oversight actions the state has taken, and why the Walz administration has, so far, not complied with a slate of recommendations from a DHS Office of Inspector General report that included action to recover overpayments, strengthen attendance monitoring at childcare facilities and implement real-time electronic attendance reporting.
Cassidy and Senate Republicans gave Walz until Jan. 22 to comply with their slate of requests.
‘The Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse,’ they wrote. ‘And the United States Senate is exercising its duty to ensure proper stewardship of federal taxpayer dollars for child care programs, and we take this responsibility very seriously.’