MINNEAPOLIS — Tim Walz, Minnesota’s governor and the Democratic nominee for vice chairman, is being summoned to face earlier than a U.S. Home of Representatives committee and reply questions concerning the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal.
The Minnesota-based nonprofit has been accused of diverting $250 million in federal funds meant to feed low-income youngsters throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Republican-led Home Training and the Workforce Committee issued subpoenas on Wednesday to Walz and leaders from the U.S. Division of Agriculture and the Workplace of Inspector Normal.
Committee chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of New York, made the next allegation concerning Walz within the cowl letter of the subpoena:
“Statements in the press by you and your representatives indicate that you and other executive officers were involved, or had knowledge of, (the Minnesota Department of Education’s) administration of the (Federal Child Nutrition Programs) and responsibilities and actions regarding the massive fraud.”
Walz was given till Sept. 18 to offer paperwork and the requested data to the committee, whose membership consists of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Why is Walz being focused by the GOP-led committee?
Because the scandal broke in early 2022, Walz has repeatedly denied that his administration dragged its toes in investigating the nonprofit.
“We caught this fraud. We caught it very early. We alerted the right people,” Walz mentioned in September 2022. “We were taken to court. We were sued. We were threatened with going to jail. We stuck with it.”
He additionally accused a county choose of ordering the schooling division to renew funding the nonprofit in 2021 after funds had been lower early into the state’s fraud investigation. The choose denied making the order, and mentioned the division voluntarily resumed funds regardless of “serious deficiencies.”
Steven Senne / AP
Walz then issued a plan that known as for the set up of an inspector normal within the schooling division and an enlargement of the Workplace of Grants Administration.
In June 2024, Minnesota’s Workplace of the Legislative Auditor issued a report that accused the schooling division of “inadequate” oversight that “created opportunities for fraud.”
Following the report’s launch, Minnesota Republicans continued to put blame at Walz’s toes.
“Either Gov. Walz holds his appointed commissioners and other staff accountable and we stop the waste and fraud, or this is going to continue,” mentioned GOP Senate Minority Chief Mark Johnson.
A Walz spokesperson gave this assertion to CBS Information Minnesota on Thursday following information of the subpoena:
“This was an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program. The state department of education worked diligently to stop the fraud and we’re grateful to the FBI for working with the department of education to arrest and charge the individuals involved.”
What’s the Feeding Our Future scandal?
Feeding Our Future was based in 2017 by Aimee Bock with the mission of feeding hungry youngsters all through the Twin Cities. The nonprofit initially acquired simply lower than $3 million in federal funds, however that quantity spiked to almost $200 million by 2021.
When the nonprofit dissolved in February 2022, Bock mentioned they’d served meals to greater than 30,000 youngsters in BIPOC communities and “did a lot of great work in the community.”
The federal authorities charged Bock and greater than 70 others in what U.S. Legal professional Andrew Luger known as “the largest pandemic fraud in the United States” in 2022. Bock maintains she is harmless of any wrongdoing.
The defendants are accused of utilizing nearly all of the stolen cash to purchase houses, property, luxurious autos, jewellery and to pay for journey.
In June 2024, a Minnesota man pleaded responsible to bribery after a bag full of $120,000 in money was left at a juror’s house amid the trial of seven defendants. That juror was dismissed, and 5 of the defendants had been discovered responsible. 4 others have been charged within the bribery case.
