Republican Senators have formed a task force to address the widespread fraud in federal funding. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s task force, comprised of Chairman Bill Cassidy (LA), and Sens. Ashley Moody (FL), Roger Marshall (KS), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Jon Husted (OH), Markwayne Mullin (OK), and Tim Scott (SC), are now “demanding accountability from outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz amid widespread reports of fraud and abuse of federal child care funding in Minnesota.”
“Our tax dollars are supposed to help American families, not line the pockets of fraudsters,” Cassidy said in a statement. “HELP Committee Republicans are committed to rooting out this fraud and ensuring Americans’ tax dollars are used responsibly.”
The Committee has also launched a tip line for Americans to report cases of fraud.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has also launched a widespread investigation into the unprecedented fraud exposed in Minnesota. In a letter sent to the temporary Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, Shireen Gandhi, Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), as well as Reps. John Joyce (R-PA) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), both chairs of energy and commerce subcommittees, called for answers regarding Medicaid fraud.
“The extensive fraud schemes being perpetrated in Minnesota have wreaked havoc on government-funded health programs. We have an obligation to ensure finite taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly, and that the most vulnerable Americans are not being exploited to the benefit of fraudsters and foreign actors,” the letter read.
“As members of Congress and this Committee, our track record has made our continued commitment to ridding government programs of waste, fraud, mismanagement, and abuse clear,” they added. “This letter is the next step in the Committee’s work to root out fraud and restore program integrity in our federal health programs nationwide.”
