Roger Severino’s blunt assessment on Fox Report — calling Minnesota’s scandal a “double fault” robbery — hit the mark: this was theft by criminals and negligence by the very officials sworn to protect taxpayers. His point that exposing this mess is a public service resonates with every hard-working American tired of watching their money disappear into fraud schemes. The Heritage Foundation’s domestic policy vice president was right to say the scandal demands furious accountability.
The details that have emerged are sickening: federal prosecutors first indicted dozens in schemes tied to the Feeding Our Future program and related abuses, with the criminal tally growing as investigations deepened. What started as charges against dozens ballooned into scores of convictions and sprawling allegations that stretch far beyond a single nonprofit; this is not a garden-variety bookkeeping error, it’s organized theft on an industrial scale. Minnesotans deserve to know who failed to stop it and why oversight mechanisms were left wide open.
The scope of the theft now stretches into the hundreds of millions and, by some estimates, over a billion dollars across multiple programs, prompting national headlines and fierce scrutiny. Investigative reporting lays bare how phantom providers and fake claims were allowed to flourish while the bureaucracy made excuses — a scandal that should shame any official who claims competence. The Wall Street Journal and others have documented how federal authorities had to step in when state systems proved inadequate.
The federal response — including a freeze on child care payments to Minnesota while officials justify how funds were spent — shows just how serious this is and how deep the rot goes in program administration. HHS’s move to demand proof that taxpayer dollars support legitimate providers was overdue and necessary; taxpayers have a right to expect their dollars are not fueling sham businesses. The pause on roughly $185 million in child care funding sends a hard message: papering over failures won’t cut it anymore.
Democratic politicians who championed rapid expansion and waived guardrails for these programs must answer for the consequences of their policies; the MEALS Act and similar waivers opened pathways that were exploited by grifters. Representative Ilhan Omar and others who defended or downplayed the abuses owe Minnesotans clear answers about why protections were loosened and why warnings from whistleblowers were ignored. This isn’t about identity politics — it’s about protecting citizens’ wallets from fraud and demanding responsible governance.
Now is the time for aggressive oversight: prosecutors should finish the job, federal and state auditors must sweep every program for vulnerabilities, and lawmakers should tighten rules that make fraud easy. Conservatives should seize this moment to push for real reforms — stronger identity verification, tougher audits, and an end to the political reflex of expanding programs without safeguards. As Severino argued, exposing the fraud isn’t an attack on a community, it’s a call to restore honesty, accountability, and respect for taxpayers across America.
