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HOUSE PANEL SEEKS INFORMATION FROM USDA, MN DEPT. OF EDUCATION AND GOV. WALZ
Sep. 5, 2024
Agri-Pulse reports:
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| Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC |
The House Education and Workforce Committee has subpoenaed USDA, the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, seeking information on how they handled what's being called the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the country.
The committee's Republican majority is seeking documents showing how Walz's administration and the USDA oversaw Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future. The organization allegedly defrauded USDA of over $250 million intended to feed children.
To date, 70 individuals have been charged for their parts in the scheme and five have been convicted of fraud.
The committee originally sent a subpoena to USDA in 2022 seeking information about the agency's role. In the cover letter of the latest subpoena, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said USDA's production of the requested information has been "neither timely nor fully responsive."
"As the chief executive and the highest ranking official in the state of Minnesota, you are responsible for the MDE and its administration of [federal child nutrition programs]," Foxx said in the cover letter to Walz's subpoena. "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."
The latest subpoena requests specific documents and communications related to Feeding our Future, and gives USDA, Walz and MDE until Sept. 18 to comply. None are required to testify.
Walz response: A spokesperson for Walz called the fraud "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."
And USDA's: "As has been well documented, the scheme by those associated with Feeding our Future began in 2020 under the previous administration, and charges were brought against the aforementioned individuals in 2022. Defendants associated with Feeding our Future are facing litigation by the Department of Justice. USDA does not comment on ongoing litigation and refers inquiries on the matter to the Department of Justice."
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