June 12, 2026
St. Paul, MN—State Representative Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), Chair of the House Fraud Prevention & State Agency Oversight Committee, issued the following statement today reacting to a new report from the U.S. House Oversight Committee concluding that Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and senior officials in the Walz Administration knew about systemic fraud as early as 2019 but failed to stop payments to suspicious providers.
“Today’s report confirms what whistleblowers revealed at our Fraud Committee hearings over the last two years: Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and their administration knew about the fraud and failed to stop it. Worse yet, the Walz Administration tried to cover it up by suppressing reports of fraud and retaliating against whistleblower. Taxpayer were stolen while fraudsters were allowed to game the system, and instead of acting with urgency, state leaders let the fraud grow to staggering proportions.”
The 200-page congressional report included several key findings:
- Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison were aware of credible and systemic fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs as early as 2019 but failed to take action to protect taxpayer funds.
- Minnesota state agencies had clear authority to suspend or stop payments to providers suspected of fraud without requiring independent direction from courts, law enforcement agencies, or the federal government but failed to act.
- Minnesota officials continued directing taxpayer dollars to Feeding Our Future and other high-risk entities despite identifying serious program deficiencies, enabling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to flow to fraudsters.
- Testimony and documents show that concerns about litigation and accusations of discrimination—not legal barriers or directives from law enforcement—were cited as reasons for continuing payments to suspected fraudsters.
- The Walz Administration retaliated against state employees who raised concerns about fraud, while senior state officials prioritized managing political and media fallout over addressing known fraud vulnerabilities.
- Failures to prevent fraud resulted in an estimated $300 million in federal child nutrition funds being lost and placed as much as $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds at serious risk.
Robbins continued, “Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen and billions more has been put at risk. Minnesota could lose $2 billion in federal Medicaid dollars if we don’t get this cleaned up. The courageous individuals who tried to speak up were ignored or pushed aside by Minnesota Democrats, including DHS Commissioners, Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison. Minnesotans are demanding accountability for what happened, not just for the fraudsters who stole their money, but for the leaders who knew what was happening and failed to act. House Republicans are going to keep following the facts, exposing what happened, and fighting to end the culture of fraud that was allowed to take hold under Governor Walz and Democrats.”
The full report can be found here.
