{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/republicans-are-fighting-against-fraud-while-democrats-protect-criminals/", "Republicans are Fighting Against Fraud While Democrats Protect Criminals", "2026-06-16", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cHere in the Senate, every single Democrat voted against landmark legislation to fight fraud, to fight waste, to fight abuse, to fight corruption. Democrats would rather protect thieves than protect hardworking American taxpayers and the people these programs were created to help.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) today spoke about how Republicans are rooting out fraud in federal spending. Senator Barrasso highlighted the anti-fraud provisions in the Working Families Tax Cuts law that protects hardworking taxpayers. He also praised Vice President J.D. Vance for leading the effort to expose and prosecute fraud nationwide.\n\nClick HERE to watch Senator Barrasso\u2019s remarks.\n\nSen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cCriminals are actively stealing billions of dollars from American taxpayers. They\u2019re doing it through fraud. The way to stop fraud is to punish those who commit it. That\u2019s exactly what Republicans are doing.\n\n\u201cFor four years, Joe Biden and Democrats treated fraud as acceptable and inevitable. Criminals defrauded hardworking taxpayers by deception and deceit. Democrats knew about it. They looked the other way. Republicans are putting an end to it. We made fighting fraud a top priority. That is how to protect hardworking taxpayers.\n\n\u201cRepublicans passed the Working Families Tax Cuts law. We strengthened eligibility requirements for Medicaid. We ensured illegal immigrants do not receive taxpayer-funded healthcare. We put in place work requirements for Medicaid and for Food Stamps.\n\n\u201cAt the same time, President Trump created an Anti-Fraud Task Force. Vice President Vance is leading this sweeping effort with clarity and urgency. Criminals are hearing a clear message: No amount of fraud is too small to prosecute.\n\n\u201cThe battlefield against fraud is nationwide. Minnesota is the ground zero of fraud. Let me tell you how bad the fraud is. Criminals are using children with autism as a way to get rich quick.\n\n\u201cEight years ago, the Minnesota Medicaid program for children with autism spent $6 million. This is money needed and used to help children actually diagnosed with autism.\n\n\u201cDriven by massive criminal fraud, the price tag ballooned from $6 million to $192 million. The program was looted by crooks, criminals, and corruption. This was money being siphoned away from children with autism \u2013 children in need.\n\n\u201cLast month, federal officials charged 15 individuals for stealing $90 million connected to the state\u2019s federally-funded healthcare program. According to the Justice Department, that includes the largest autism fraud scheme ever prosecuted.\n\n\u201cThe schemes don\u2019t stop there.\n\n\u201cRemember the fraudulent day care center in Minnesota? No children were actually enrolled in that facility. It was set up for one purpose and one purpose only. It was set up to steal money from the United States Treasury.\n\n\u201cI just heard the Minority Leader, Senator Schumer, here on the Floor talking about day care centers. Why do the Democrats ignore the abuse of day care centers to steal money from the American people, from our taxpayers? They don\u2019t seem to care about that. They just say, \u2018Send more money, send more money, send more money.\u2019 And then he comes to the Floor complaining about day care centers. When it is the fraud in Minnesota with their own candidate for Vice President being the governor overseeing it, ignoring it, allowing it to happen. They don\u2019t seem to care about any of those things.\n\n\u201cOur colleague Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa investigated. She discovered one so-called day care center raked in over $230,000 from the Small Business Administration alone during the pandemic. Remember there were no children at the location. None. The Biden Administration looked the other way. The disgraced Governor of Minnesota looked the other way.\n\n\u201cIn total, stolen funds in Minnesota have now been identified as exceeding $9 billion. That\u2019s a staggering sum. And that\u2019s only one state run by the Democrats.\n\n\u201cCalifornia is just as bad. Last week, many of us met with Dr. Mehmet Oz. Dr. Oz runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Dr. Oz says nearly half of hospice providers in Los Angeles are fraudulent. Many don\u2019t serve a single patient. Many are just shell offices.\n\n\u201cRecall, Los Angeles has only three percent of America\u2019s population. Somehow, 33 percent of all hospice providers in the entire country are listed in Los Angeles. How can that be? It\u2019s a racket. Democrats are aware of the fraud. They refuse to help stop it.\n\n\u201cIn Ohio, the Anti-Fraud Task Force dismantled a criminal scheme that stole tens of millions of dollars from Medicaid. The criminals submitted false claims for so-called behavior health services. These services were never provided. Criminals used the money to buy a fleet of luxury cars, including a Maserati, a Mercedes, and a Bentley. Thankfully, Senator Jon Husted and Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio voted for the Working Families Tax Cuts law. They voted to root out exactly this kind of waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption.\n\n\u201cNationwide, total estimates of Medicaid fraud are as much as $120 billion a year. The fraud got much worse when Democrats passed Obamacare.\n\n\u201cVice President Vance is encouraging states to fight fraud in their Medicaid programs. Those who don\u2019t enforce the law will lose federal funds.\n\n\u201cA pattern has emerged. Democrats run blue states. Democrats control the big cities. When criminals steal vast amounts of money from hard-working taxpayers, elected Democrats go silent. Appallingly, we have seen cases where Democrats try to silence whistleblowers who sound the alarm.\n\n\u201cHere in the Senate, every single Democrat voted against landmark legislation to fight fraud, to fight waste, to fight abuse, to fight corruption. Democrats would rather protect thieves than protect hardworking American taxpayers and the people these programs were created to help.\n\n\u201cThe American people are infuriated by the fraud that is being exposed. They are finally seeing results in combating it.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are fighting the war against fraud. We are fighting to protect taxpayers. We are fighting to protect vulnerable families. We are fighting to punish criminals who steal from our country. The American people deserve accountability. Criminals deserve consequences.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-17T06:49:24Z", "2026-06-17T06:50:53Z"]], "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://www.barrasso.senate.gov/republicans-are-fighting-against-fraud-while-democrats-protect-criminals/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9247311390936375, "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"}