Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) demanded oversight records Tuesday from Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Gov. Tim Walz to get a better understanding of how social services scammers may have stolen some $9 billion from taxpayers.
“Given the pervasiveness of fraud in your state, it is past time for Minnesota to answer for its apparent failure to safeguard taxpayer dollars,” Johnson wrote in a letter to Walz and DHS Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi, obtained by The Post.
Johnson, the chairman of the Senate’s powerful Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, argued that “a clear accounting of how Minnesota’s program-integrity controls failed is required” in light of the series of high-profile fraud scandals that plagued the North Star State.
Records related to “actual or suspected” fraud or abuse involving childcare assistance programs and Medicaid services administered by DHS and a complete list of entities that received funds from the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, the Housing Stabilization Services program, or the Federal Child Nutrition Program, are among the information demanded by the senator.
Johnson also asked for records related to Walz’s October 2025 decision to pause 14 Medicaid service categories identified as high-risk for fraud, including “all communications between DHS and the Governor’s office.”
The Wisconsin Republican included a list of over 70 day care centers in Minnesota that received at least $1 million in payments from the state in 2024, and asked state officials for detailed records related to any inspections, audits, payment reviews or compliance checks that were conducted, along with the names of individuals who may have conducted those reviews.
“Public awareness of this widespread fraud intensified when investigative journalist Nick Shirley posted a YouTube video alleging that DHS-administered programs paid approximately $111 million to fraudulent entities claiming to provide child care and health care services,” Johnson noted.
“At the very least, routine DHS oversight should have identified obvious program-integrity red flags at child care centers receiving unusually large payments relative to their licensed capacity,” he continued.
“Given DHS’s lack of effective oversight, the public deserves to know the extent to which these facilities may be misusing taxpayer funds.”
Johnson gave state officials a Feb. 17 deadline to comply with his request for information.
The senator has previously threatened to use his subpoena power to obtain records related to Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud scandals.
“We need to put all kinds of pressure on the state agencies to give us their records,” Johnson said in a December interview with “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
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