Fraud Accountability Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I think we are all pleased to be back with a new year and hard at work.

One of the things that has really captured the attention of the American people in this new year is the amount of fraud that has been uncovered in Minnesota. What we have learned is that now the total has climbed to $9 billion--still rising. It is important to note that is all stolen taxpayer money. It is so interesting that this big theft was uncovered by a young independent journalist who really blew the story open when he started visiting childcare centers following a lead, visiting these childcare centers in Minneapolis.

Despite these centers having pulled in tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, the childcare centers were actually empty. There were no children; there were no cars in the parking lot. Usually--not even any staff to come answer the door. These were visits that were made during the day when one would assume that children and their caretakers would be present in the facility.

We know and what we are learning is that this childcare fraud scheme is just one part of a widespread fraud operation taking place in Minnesota. Under State Democrats, billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen by front groups that pretended they were providing social services. But they padded their pockets. They basically took this money from vulnerable individuals--programs that were intended for children, for the elderly, for individuals with autism. So basically, they were robbing the taxpayer, padding their pockets, pocketing all of this money that was intended for vulnerable citizens.

The Trump administration has targeted this fraud network, and they have been working on this for several months. They are bringing dozen of criminal indictments, and the list of these alleged crimes is staggering. I think the list grows every day, and that is one thing that is shocking to people.

But what you have is tens of millions of dollars that were stolen through Minnesota's Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services Program. The money was appropriated. The money was sent from the Federal Government to the State of Minnesota, and poof, it has gone into pockets, not into programs. The Housing Stabilization Services Program was meant to help people with disabilities, yet what you had was these scammers come in and take most of that money.

Millions more were stolen through the State's Feeding Our Future Program. Here, the fraudsters claimed that they were providing thousands of meals every day to needy children. Instead, what we are learning is they weren't providing those thousands of meals; they were spending your hard-earned tax dollars on luxury vehicles and on pricey real estate.

And yet millions more were stolen by a single woman who paid parents to enroll their children in her fraudulent autism therapy program even though most of those children had never been diagnosed with autism.

I know that Tennesseans and, indeed, I am sure, many Americans across the country are wondering, How in the world could this possibly happen?

One of the things I have heard from Tennesseans most on is this fraud issue because they can't believe nobody ever noticed. We are talking $9 billion in fraud--and climbing--in one State. Well, we know the answer to this, from what we are learning, is that most of this fraud was committed by members of Minnesota's Somali community and that that community is closely tied to the State's Democratic machine. It appears that there were some Democrats who chose to look the other way, and they allowed this to happen. Meanwhile, the Biden administration poured gas on the fire by eliminating safeguards that were meant to stop the waste, fraud, and abuse of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

In 2024, the Joe Biden administration scrapped a rule that required childcare centers to verify that kids actually attended their facilities in order to receive Federal funding. Think about this: They removed the provision that says you have got to tell us you are actually enrolling children in your childcare center. So what does that do? That invites fraud. In total, his administration paid out more than $19 billion to daycare centers without having any verification that that childcare center had children--$19 billion to daycare centers.

Thankfully, President Trump and his administration are working to ensure that these fraudsters face justice and that something like this can never happen again.

Right now, you have Federal authorities on the ground in Minnesota who are working to identify and arrest these criminals who have defrauded the Federal Government and the U.S. taxpayer. President Trump has also frozen more than $10 billion in Federal funding for social services programs to Minnesota and to other States--California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York--where there are fraud investigations.

The President's message is quite clear: If these States want to see a dime of Federal taxpayer dollars, they must prove that they have put in place some safeguards to prevent fraud. It is common sense. If you are going to take this Federal money for your State, for goodness' sake, put some safeguards in place so you know whoever is receiving the money is going to use the money as intended, that they will meet the deliverable, that they will show their outcomes.

I think it is so interesting in Minnesota, with the spotlight on that State, that Governor Tim Walz has announced he is not going to seek reelection for that job, that he is dropping out of the race. Minnesotans deserve an immediate resignation from him, and we are hearing that he will not do that.

We know that this issue goes far beyond Minnesota. Just last month, California's nonpartisan auditor found that eight State agencies have a high risk of waste, fraud, and abuse. Yet they have taken zero corrective action--no corrective action. Across the board, the State is at risk of losing billions to fraud in food assistance, unemployment benefits, and in the State's Medicaid Program.

In New York, Republican lawmakers are calling for an independent audit of the State's spending following several fraud scandals. In one case, scammers in Brooklyn used two adult daycare facilities to steal-- get this--$68 million in taxpayer money from the State's Medicaid home care program. A State comptroller's office also revealed that the State provided more than $500 million in Medicaid benefits to out-of-State residents.

If you live in New York and you are getting benefits through the Medicaid program and you find out that a half a billion dollars has been used to provide benefits for people who are not even residents of the State, you ought to be asking questions.

In Illinois, the State's auditor general found that the government paid out more than $5 billion in fraudulent unemployment insurance. Well, do you know what? They didn't do a thing about it.

Last month, the Trump administration indicted two men outside Chicago who submitted nearly $300 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid as well as to private insurers.

Then, this week, in Mississippi, a trial started for a man who faces charges from the Justice Department for allegedly participating in a scheme to steal $77 million in Federal aid intended for needy families. Instead, the scammers spent the money on luxury vehicles, investments, private schools, and more.

While President Trump works to end this abuse of taxpayer dollars, Congress should do everything possible to support his efforts.

This week, I am introducing the Fraud Accountability Act, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to explicitly make clear that fraud is a deportable offense. If you come to our country to steal from the American people, you ought to be deported; and if you have somehow gained American citizenship, you should be stripped of it. Every single Member of this Chamber should support this legislation.

The era of rampant fraud is over. Under President Trump, we are going to continue to put the American people first.

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