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The Grinch is stealing hundreds of billions of dollars of welfare benefits from America’s needy, and Democrats couldn’t care less.
The broadening scandal in Minnesota, where Somali criminals allegedly stole more than a billion dollars in taxpayer funds under the indulgent eyes of Democrat Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and other state officials, is the tip of the iceberg. All around the country, there is growing evidence that programs meant to serve the poor, the hungry and the homeless have been scammed; rather than investigate the frauds and prosecute those responsible, Democrats denounce efforts by those trying to stop the theft.
Walz called President Trump’s vow to deport the Somali criminals responsible for hijacking hundreds of millions of dollars in welfare money “petty vindictiveness.” He blamed federal COVID emergency funds for the scandal, claiming the pandemic relief effort “opened up the door to relax the guard rails and to have fraud be committed.”
‘INCOMPETENCE OR DERELICTION’: MINNESOTA LAWMAKER RIPS TIM WALZ AS STATE FRAUD LOSSES MOUNT
But CBS News reports that the scandal actually predates the pandemic, and began months after Walz took office in 2019. According to CBS, Democrat officials are alleged to have ignored the thievery as it spun out of control “because the food charity sought to paint early scrutiny of the nonprofit as racism.”
The brazen scheme in Minnesota has grabbed headlines, but reporting by Fox Digital suggests reports of similar wrongdoing by the Somali community has also emerged in Ohio.
WHISTLEBLOWER WARNS MASSIVE FRAUD IS HAPPENING IN OHIO SOMALI COMMUNITY, MINNESOTA ‘JUST TIP OF THE SPEAR’
Mehek Cooke, an Ohio attorney, is alleging that Somalis in her state have perpetrated a “massive” Medicaid theft that “involves doctors “rubber stamping” home healthcare payouts to the family members of elderly individuals for fake medical conditions.” Ohio’s Medicaid program allows individuals to receive up to $91,000 per year in payments for care they provide to a family member. Fraudsters allegedly file bogus claims that care has been provided; crooked doctors greenlight the payments and get kickbacks in return.
Local Ohio officials have allegedly turned a blind eye to the graft, neglecting to conduct audits or take other measures to verify that payments are legitimate. Similarly, in Minnesota, 480 Department of Human Services employees went on social media to accuse Governor Tim Walz of ignoring warnings, posting on X: “We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got the opposite response.”
DR. OZ WARNS WALZ TO ADDRESS ALLEGED SOMALI MEDICAID FRAUD OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING: ‘WE’LL STOP PAYING’
Clearly concerned that the scandal has dimmed his chances of winning a third term as governor, and with his disapproval ratings climbing, Walz just appointed the state’s first Director of Program Integrity.
Other Minnesota politicians have also been linked to the Somali fraudsters. The New York Post reports that Ellison, his councilman son, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Rep. Ilhan Omar “received cash from the scammers,” many did so after meeting the crooks, “raising questions about how much they knew.”
The scams in Minnesota and Ohio are appalling but not shocking. The plundering of our nation’s welfare funds is a national problem. Obamacare is one of the many government programs riddled with fraud. The General Accounting Office recently reported that “large-scale systemic failures that allow fake identities, dead people, and massive improper use of Social Security numbers to receive Obamacare subsidies” are costing taxpayers $27 billion a year. As part of their review, the GAO applied for Obamacare subsidies under fictitious names and with zero documentation; 90% of the fake applications were accepted.
To put this in perspective, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that extending the premium subsidies being debated in Congress would cost about $60 billion for two years. In other words, eliminating fraud in Obamacare would nearly pay for the extension.
Elsewhere, consider the response of 22 Democrat-controlled states that have refused to share information with the federal government about food stamp, or SNAP, recipients. The Trump White House has requested the names and immigration status of those receiving the benefits, which are, after all, provided by the federal government, in order to root out cheating.
Brooke Rollins, head of the Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, says that the information provided by 28 states shows that about 186,000 deceased people are receiving SNAP benefits and that 500,000 are getting benefits more than once.
HOW FEARS OF BEING LABELED ‘RACIST’ HELPED ‘PROVIDE COVER’ FOR THE EXPLODING MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
SNAP is the largest nutrition program in the country, providing nearly $100 billion in benefits annually and serving 1 in 8 lower-income Americans, or 42 million people. Between October 2022 and December 2024, states that have sent in their data to the feds reported replacing more than $320 million in stolen benefits. Given that some of the biggest states in the union, like California and New York, have refused to comply, the national number is likely far larger.
Last year, the General Accounting Office reported that in 2023, the federal government under President Joe Biden made “improper payments” totaling an estimated $236 billion; 74% went to deceased or ineligible recipients. Both Medicaid and Medicare paid out more than $50 billion in erroneous payments. The response to this revelation by the Joe Biden White House? A great big yawn.
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Democrats portray themselves as the protectors of the indigent. Allowing hundreds of billions of dollars to go missing every year from SNAP, Medicaid and other big-money efforts to help our less fortunate citizens has the same impact as cutting those programs.
Democrats routinely howl at even the slightest effort to trim benefits; suggesting that able-bodied single men were not the intended recipients of Medicaid and that work requirements might appropriately reset the program, for instance, elicits outrage from the left.
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Democrats embrace hugely costly welfare programs, knowing that the more voters become dependent on the state, they more likely they will reelect those promising ever-greater handouts. Cracking down on theft, or waste and abuse, brings them no votes at all.
This is a problem for the entire country.
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