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The “Putting an N to Learing about Fraud Act” takes direct aim at the loopholes Minnesota fraudsters exploited for years.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable that the fraud running rampant in Minnesota could end up costing taxpayers more than $9 billion,” Ernst told Fox News Digital.
Unlike politicians who claim ignorance after the fact, Ernst spent years studying how these fraud networks operate. She documented how fake providers were paid upfront before services were delivered. She tracked how billing totals doubled overnight without triggering alarms. She saw how nonexistent record keeping allowed criminals to disappear with millions.
Her bill closes every one of those gaps.
Proof Before Payment Ends Fake Childcare Claims
One of the bill’s most powerful reforms is deceptively simple.
No proof. No payment.
Under Ernst’s plan, childcare providers would no longer receive federal funds based on claimed enrollment numbers. Instead, they must document actual attendance before any reimbursement is issued.
Records must be kept for seven years. Federal agencies would have full audit authority at any time. Payments would only occur after services are delivered and verified.
This single change would have stopped Minnesota’s childcare fraud cold.
Walz’s own Legislative Auditor warned in 2019 that the state’s systems were “insufficient to effectively prevent, detect, and investigate fraud.” Those warnings were brushed aside.
A 2024 audit later confirmed the state had legal authority to intervene years earlier but failed to act.
Automatic Red Flags for Medicaid Abuse
Ernst’s legislation also builds in mandatory alerts for suspicious billing behavior.
If payments for any service jump more than 100 percent in a single year, federal officials must be notified. The same applies when provider numbers double within twelve months.
That exact pattern defined Minnesota’s autism treatment scandal.
One defendant alone pulled in $6 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims for therapy children never received, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson.
Thompson warned in December that 14 Medicaid programs cost Minnesota $18 billion since 2018 and investigators believe more than half may be fraudulent.
Under Ernst’s bill, those spikes would have been flagged immediately.
Clawbacks Make Fraud Unprofitable
The legislation does not stop with prevention.
It demands recovery.
Federal agencies would be required to claw back improperly paid funds. The Office of Management and Budget must issue recovery guidance. Inspectors general must publicly report how much money is recovered each year.
Minnesota proved how easily federal money can disappear for years before anyone notices.
The Feeding Our Future scandal alone led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions after criminals stole $250 million meant to feed children during the pandemic.
Defendants bought luxury cars, overseas property, and vacation villas while submitting fake invoices and attendance logs.
Federal prosecutors even uncovered what they called “fraud tourism,” with criminals traveling from other states to exploit Minnesota’s lax oversight.
Walz Faces Fallout as Ernst Turns Up the Heat
Ernst also named Walz the January recipient of her monthly “Squeal Award” for what her office described as runaway fraud under his watch.
Walz dropped his re-election bid earlier this month as public outrage mounted.
Viral footage showing federally funded childcare centers with no children present exploded online after YouTuber Nick Shirley exposed the scheme. Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk amplified the videos, drawing tens of millions of views.
The Trump administration froze Minnesota’s federal childcare funding shortly afterward.
Walz attempted damage control.
“Whoever is in charge. Unlike the president, I’m governor now (and) whether these programs happen before we got here or afterwards, it doesn’t matter. We’re here now. We’re the ones fixing it,” Walz said in January.
For taxpayers, it was far too late.
A Blueprint Written by Someone Who Did the Work
Ernst chairs the Senate Department of Government Efficiency caucus and has spent more than a decade tracking government waste. Her office reports over $15.1 billion in savings since Trump returned to office.
“The swindlers in Minnesota and everywhere else soon are going to ‘lear’ the hard way that in the era of DOGE, crime no longer pays,” Ernst said.
Her bill reads like a checklist of Minnesota’s failures because it was written by someone who actually studied the crimes.
Attendance verification stops fake enrollment. Record retention kills the no paper trail defense. Billing alerts catch overnight fraud explosions. Mandatory clawbacks remove the incentive to steal.
It is legislation forged from hard lessons and ignored warnings.
And for welfare fraudsters across America, the message is clear.
The easy money days are over.
