Following a lackluster media availability on progress from the Governor’s Office of Inspector General Coordinating Council, Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson (East Grand Forks) released the following statement:

Recent federal indictments, convictions, and investigations have exposed massive, industrial-scale fraud under Governor Walz's watch. The Feeding Our Future scandal alone involves 78 defendants charged, dozens convicted, and more than $250 million stolen from funds meant to feed hungry children during the pandemic. Additional schemes have defrauded hundreds of millions, and potentially billions, from Medicaid, autism services, housing programs, and more, through fake providers and shell companies while fraudsters lavished taxpayers' money on luxury cars, homes, and travel.

Last week, new charges exposed "fraud tourists" flocking to Minnesota from out of state solely to exploit taxpayers, with the U.S. First Assistant Attorney warning that as much as half of payments through 14 high-risk Medicaid services totaling $18 billion since 2018 could be fraudulent.

Since the first raid on Feeding Our Future offices in 2022, Minnesota has stood out as a national outlier in rampant fraud. Despite repeated warnings from whistleblowers, auditors, and federal prosecutors, oversight failures have cost Minnesotans potentially billions in stolen funds. Yet Governor Walz continues to refuse meaningful accountability within his administration. There have been no firings and no consequences for those responsible for stopping fraud. New leadership at the Department of Education and a vacant Health and Human Services Commissioner position have delivered zero real reforms or restitution.

While holding one-party control of state government and fully aware of the exploding fraud crisis, Senate Democrats actively weakened oversight by voting to alter the confirmation process, effectively abdicating their constitutional duty to scrutinize and hold the Governor’s commissioners accountable through confirmations. Senate Democrats refused to establish a dedicated committee for fraud oversight to provide transparency and accountability among their own party leaders. Senate Democrats blocked efforts to demand accountability for the billions lost to fraud that shuttered vital services, left vulnerable Minnesotans homeless, without treatment, and desperately scrambling to care for loved ones.

It's long past time for Senate Democrats to finally hold Governor Walz and his administration accountable for the billions squandered in fraud. Their prolonged silence and deliberate inaction in the face of this crisis render them not just complicit, but enablers of the Walz administration's catastrophic failures. Minnesotans deserve leaders who fight fraud, not those who facilitate it.