Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) chaired a House Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee hearing on the ongoing Minnesota welfare fraud scandal, saying that the issue's politicization prevents its solution.
Rep. Biggs questioned the hearing witness and former law enforcement officer Scott Dexter, who had been appointed by the Minnesota Department of Human Services to investigate fraud in the system.
In his testimony, Dexter described how he and his team conducted investigations into Somali-owned and operated childcare centers receiving Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) funds, yet were accused of racial profiling as they uncovered more evidence of fraud, with physical evidence aligning with that found by independent journalist and YouTuber Nick Shirley.
Rep. Biggs noted the irony in other journalists' attempts to disprove Shirley's findings, saying, "I just find it interesting that somehow, local news which reported on the fraud, other local news reporters who reported on the fraud, credibly agree with the findings of Mr. Shirley." "So, I mean, the very notion of trying to discredit Mr. Shirley because he had a lot of views, or that some CBS reporter disagreed and said they could not find the evidence, in my mind, discredited the CBS reporter," the Arizona congressman continued.
Shirley himself, another witness at the hearing, further noted that suspected fraudsters are suing to prevent data from being handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in an audit.
"We all want to stop the fraud. But the bottom line is, it is so infused with politicization that it is preventing us from just sitting down and saying, 'Okay, we have got a symptom in Minnesota, and we are going to fix it," Biggs argued. "I think the symptoms being exposed is critical, because then it actually motivates people to try to get to the root cause."
