{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases/stauber-reacts-house-oversight-findings-governor-tim-walz-and-attorney-general", "Stauber Reacts to House Oversight Findings that Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison Knew of Fraud and Failed to Act", "2026-06-08", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Pete Stauber", "S001212", "stauber.house.gov", "stauber", "https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08) made the following statement after the House Oversight Committee released a report titled, \u201cThe Cost of Doing Nothing: How Tim Walz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota\u2019s Fraud Explosion.\u201d The bombshell report exposes how senior Minnesota state officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, knew about widespread taxpayer fraud in federally funded social programs for years, had the authority to stop payments and ban fraudulent providers from participating in these programs, but repeatedly failed to act.\n\nCongressman Stauber stated, \u201cHistory will never forget that Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about the fraud plaguing Minnesota for years and turned a blind eye to it. Investigators found that concerns about allegations of racial discrimination contributed to their decision to allow these fraudsters to keep operating, and state employees who raised concerns about the fraud faced retaliation instead of support. This is unacceptable. As a result of their dereliction of duty, $9 billion in Medicaid funds and $300 million in federal child nutrition funds have been lost. This week, the House will consider ten bills aimed at protecting taxpayer funds and combatting improper payments in federal programs, and we will continue to work alongside President Trump\u2019s anti-fraud taskforce to ensure this type of malfeasance can never occur again. Fraud is an invisible tax on hardworking Americans, and Republicans are working to eliminate it because that\u2019s what the American people demand and deserve.\u201d\n\nKey findings from this report include:\n\nGovernor Walz and Attorney General Ellison were aware of rampant fraud in Minnesota\u2019s social services programs as early as 2019 but failed to take action to prevent the theft of billions of taxpayer dollars.\n\nMinnesota state agencies had the authority to stop or suspend payments to providers suspected of fraud without requiring independent direction from courts, law enforcement agencies, or the federal government but failed to act.\n\nMinnesota officials continued directing taxpayer dollars to Feeding Our Future and other high-risk entities despite identifying serious red-flags, enabling billions of dollars in federal funds to go to fraudsters.\n\nTestimony and documents show that concerns about litigation and accusations of discrimination were cited as reasons for continuing payments to suspected fraudsters.\n\nThe 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.\n\nFailures to prevent fraud resulted in an estimated $300 million in federal child nutrition funds and $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds to be lost.\n\nRead the full report HERE.\n\nDuring House Oversight\u2019s investigation into Minnesota fraud, Congressman Stauber had an opportunity to waive on to the House Oversight Committee and question witnesses about the ongoing fraud in Minnesota.\n\nHe has also introduced a number of bills to combat fraud, including the Stop Fraud by SOMALIA Act, legislation that penalizes childcare providers who commit fraud in federally funded programs.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-27T21:44:12Z", "2026-06-27T22:11:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases/stauber-reacts-house-oversight-findings-governor-tim-walz-and-attorney-general"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6571921985596418, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}