The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will suspend nearly $130 million in financial awards to the state of Minnesota and city of Minneapolis over “widespread and systemic fraud,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Friday.
“Enough is enough!” Rollins wrote on X, sharing a letter sent to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “The Trump administration has uncovered MASSIVE fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis — billions siphoned off by fraudsters.
“And those in charge have ZERO plan to fix it.”
Rollins’ letter references the $250 million Feeding Our Future scandal, which saw dozens of fraudsters pilfer pandemic-era funds meant to feed children from low-income families.
“This fraud scheme involved USDA funding provided to the State of Minnesota to feed hungry children under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP),” the USDA secretary noted. “As of late November, 78 defendants had been charged in what the Department of Justice characterized as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.”
Rollins accused Walz and Frey of refusing to take accountability for the Feeding Our Future and other fraud scandals, and slammed them for “claiming that criticism of rampant fraud and abuse is ‘racist.’”
The USDA secretary informed the Democratic leaders that all active and future awards to the state and city – totaling more than $129 million – would be suspended “effective immediately.”
Rollins also demanded that Walz and Frey provide the USDA with “payment justifications for all federal dollar expenditures from January 20, 2025 to the present” within 30 days.
Several federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, have moved to freeze funding to Minnesota as they investigate the rampant fraud plaguing the state.
An HHS effort to pause $10 billion in federal funding to Minnesota and four other Democrat-led states was temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Friday.
