“We take a zero-tolerance approach to fraud,” Gandhi emphasized. “Enough is enough.”
DHS is urging swift CMS approval as it works to wind down the existing program and prepare for a more secure and effective replacement.
State lawmakers also responded to the DHS move, including Representative Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), Chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, and House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring).
“The shutdown of this program confirms what we feared all along: this fraud goes far deeper than the few raids and arrests made public so far. DHS has failed in its duty to protect taxpayers and vulnerable Minnesotans, and there must be full accountability for the mismanagement that allowed this to happen,” Rep. Robbins said.
“Friday afternoon’s surprise announcement from the Walz Administration is the right decision, but it’s too little, too late. Once again, state agencies failed to catch fraud in real time,” House Speaker Demuth said. “Instead of doing what was necessary on the front end to ensure this program wouldn’t follow the administration’s pattern of allowing obscene levels of fraud, they ducked accountability by simply shutting down the program—penalizing the people who needed it most. Minnesotans deserve better.”