Trump's week in review: Warning to Iran, Zelensky meeting, HHS probes Minn. daycare fraud
4. HHS freezes childcare funds to Minnesota after reports of fraud at daycare centers
In a statement Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jim O’Neill, announced that his agency had “frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota” in light of “serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.”
As Assistant Secretary for HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, Alex Adams, explained in a video message accompanying the statement, the ACF “provides Minnesota $185 million in child care funds each year,” designed to help “19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants.” Adams maintained that “any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children.”
O’Neill outlined additional steps the HHS was taking to combat fraud in Minnesota and nationwide, specifically requiring “justification and a receipt or photo evidence before we send money to a state” under the ACF program and ordering Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to conduct a “comprehensive audit” of daycare centers flagged as fraudulent by independent journalist Nick Shirley, including information about their “attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.”
HHS also unveiled a new fraud-reporting hotline and email address at https://childcare.gov.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also vowed that “more prosecutions” are coming in the Department of Justice’s ongoing probe of fraud in the state, which she said has been going on for months and has already resulted in 98 individuals facing charges and 60 being found guilty in court.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
