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‘Walz did nothing’: GOP subpoenas Tim Walz over MASSIVE fraud operation that happened on his watch

September 6, 2024 | | Print Article

The House Education and Workforce Committee has subpoenaed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to answer questions about massive COVID fraud that occurred under his watch.

The fraud was committed by Feeding Our Future (FOF), a Minnesota charity that exploited pandemic-era rules and used them to effectively divert $250 million in federal funds that’d been meant to feed low-income students.

“In 2022, a U.S. attorney charged 70 individuals associated with Minnesota-based Feeding Our Future (FOF) for their alleged roles in defrauding the USDA of over $250 million in taxpayer funds—money intended to feed hungry children,” a press release from the committee notes.

Instead of being spent on feeding children, the money wound up being used “on things like luxury cars and high-end real estate,” according to the New York Post.

“And it all happened on Walz’s watch, as his Department of Education was supposed to be providing oversight,” the Post further notes.

Indeed, the committee press release notes that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) was supposed to administer the Federal Child Nutrition Programs (FCNPs) and provide oversight for FOF.

In a subpoena letter to Walz, committee Chair Virginia Foxx, a Republican, linked the governor directly to the fraud.

“As the chief executive and the highest ranking official in the state of Minnesota, you are responsible for the MDE and its administration of FCNPs,” she wrote.

“Statements in the press by you and your representatives indicate that you and other executive officers were involved, or had knowledge of, MDE’s administration of the FCNP and responsibilities and actions regarding the massive fraud,” she added.

Walz has been given until Sept. 18 to reply to the subpoena.

All this comes months after Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report in June accusing the MDE of “inadequate” oversight that “created opportunities for fraud.”

“We found that MDE’s inadequate oversight of Feeding Our Future created opportunities for fraud,” the report reads. “MDE failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud, did not effectively exercise its authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements, and was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future.”

The stunning report prompted backlash from Republicans.

“Either Gov. Walz holds his appointed commissioners and other staff accountable and we stop the waste and fraud, or this is going to continue,” state Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, a Republican, said at the time.

The committee press release notes that the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) “are USDA-funded, state agency-administered Federal Child Nutrition Programs intended to provide reimbursement for meals to eligible children.”

“States contract with entities that provide meals and then claim reimbursement for those meals,” the press release continues. “USDA provides the funding for these reimbursements while state agencies generally lead administrative duties, such as reimbursement of funds and oversight of meal sites. MDE is the designated state agency responsible for administering both CACFP and SFSP in Minnesota.”

FOF, the organization that essentially stole food from the mouths of children, was approved by MDE to be a sponsor of federal meal programs.

Dovetailing back to the Post, its editorial board released a scathing column slamming the media for ignoring this scandal.

“The COVID scam was public and appalling — it literally stole food from the mouths of hungry kids — and he was the man in charge of the state where it happened,” the op-ed reads. “Yet in general, Americans heard only the most muted response to this Walz scandal from the press.”

“As we have on his drunk-driving lies, his lies about his service, his disastrous delay in deploying the National Guard during the Floyd riots, and on and on and on. If the legacy media had its way, Walz would waltz into office with zero scrutiny. So kudos to Foxx & Co. — but it’s still beyond pathetic Congress has to do the actual journalism these days,” it concludes.

Vivek Saxena
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