WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brad Finstad (MN-01) was joined by House Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, along with the Republican members of the Minnesota delegation in sending a follow-up letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, reiterating their September 2022 request for USDA to provide information on the mismanagement of its child nutrition programs that led to the exploitation of millions of dollars to feed hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“Nearly ten months after my colleagues and I sent our original request, the administration has yet to provide a substantive response addressing the lack of oversight that led to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme,” said Rep. Finstad. “We will continue to hold the administration accountable until we get the necessary information to ensure this scale of widespread fraud never happens again.” 

“Secretary Vilsack’s woefully inadequate response to our previous inquiry makes it clear that the USDA is uninterested in addressing this fraud,” said Majority Whip Tom Emmer. “The buck stops here: Minnesotans want answers about how their tax dollars were allowed to be stolen at the expense of kids and families. It’s time for this issue to be addressed with the seriousness it deserves.” 

"It has been almost ten months since we reached out to Secretary Vilsack to address what has been called the largest pandemic fraud in the country. Since then, even more people have been charged with defrauding the USDA, stealing millions of taxpayer dollars at the expense of hungry children in Minnesota," said Rep. Fischbach. "I urge the Secretary to swiftly address our concerns and work to prevent anything like this from ever happening again." 

“The Feeding Our Future nutrition program fraud scandal that rocked Minnesota was both infuriating and avoidable,” said Rep. Stauber. "Minnesotans and American taxpayers deserve answers on how this organization defrauded our government, yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been evasive when asked. This is simply unacceptable. That’s why I’m joining Congressman Finstad and my colleagues on a letter and legislation to get to the bottom of this fraud case and to hold those responsible accountable.”   

Additionally, today Congressman Finstad introduced the Feeding Children Not Fraudsters Act, which would audit any cases of COVID-related fraud through USDA child nutrition programs and hold those who turned a blind eye to these egregious cases of fraud accountable. The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Fischbach and Stauber. 

“It is completely unacceptable that the Biden and Walz Administrations have not gotten to the bottom of the Feeding Our Future fraud. Minnesotans deserve to know that the bureaucratic failures which allowed this massive fraud scheme to occur have been addressed and that their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are not going to waste,” said Rep. Finstad. “I will take further action, as necessary, to hold the bad actors in the state and federal agency responsible.” 

The Feeding Children Not Fraudsters Act is endorsed by Heritage Action for America, Americans for Tax Reform, and the National Taxpayers Union. 

Full text of the legislation can be found here. 

Background: 

The Department of Justice has filed charges against 60 individuals for unlawfully using $250 million in pandemic-era relief funds fraudulently claimed by Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that was a sponsor participating in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. 

On September 30, 2022, Rep. Brad Finstad was joined by Reps. Michelle Fischbach (MN-07), Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08), and Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06), along with Ranking Members Foxx, Thompson, and Comer in a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) demanding stronger oversight into meal programs administered by the Food & Nutrition Service.