NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former first lady, Jill Biden, went to Minnesota in 2022 to highlight the billions of dollars in investments for childcare that were part of Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act, where she stood next to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and praised him for his leadership helping families.
“We helped states like Minnesota safely keep open child care centers and family child care providers and boost pay for their workers,” Biden said during a February 2022 visit to the
University of Minnesota’s Child Development Laboratory School, alongside Walz and then-Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We supported high quality providers that enrich children’s lives and we helped make them more affordable.”
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion COVID-era relief package, allocated nearly $40 billion for childcare after it was passed without any Republican support. Meanwhile, roughly 4 years after the first lady went to Minnesota to tout the Democrat-led investments in childcare, Walz and his state are facing immense blowback for allegedly failing to adequately monitor fraud within the state’s Medicaid program and its childcare sector. According to a local Fox affiliate, daycares in Minnesota received roughly $500 million in federal funds in 2021.
BESSENT SAYS MINNESOTA FRAUD RECOVERY COULD HELP FUND TRUMP’S $1.5T DEFENSE PLAN
Former first lady, Jill Biden, touts billions in investments for childcare ushered to states like Minnesota visa-vis Democrats’ American Rescue Plan, which passed without any Republican support. (Fox Affiliate KMSP)
“Tim, you understand that childcare is not only critical to families, it’s critical to businesses and our economy,” the first lady said as she turned to Walz standing behind her as she addressed people at the school who were there to attend a listening session with a number of relevant lawmakers. “And Joe and I are so grateful for your leadership and for the friendship that you and Gewn– that we’ve had for so many years. And I’m excited to hear more today about what you’ve done here in Minnesota to help families recover from the uncertainties and the losses from the pandemic.”
Earlier this week, a major state audit in Minnesota conducted by the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor found widespread failures and internal control problems in the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) grant program, reaffirming concerns about massive fraud issues in the state.
An image of the Minnesota state capitol building, located in St. Paul. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
VANCE CALLS WALZ ‘A JOKE,’ CLAIMS MINNESOTA GOVERNOR ENABLED MASSIVE FRAUD
The report, released on Monday, found that between July 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2024, DHS dished out more than $425 million in grants to 830 organizations, the majority being nongovernmental, and did not show proper oversight in watching over those taxpayer funds, which in many cases were meant to help those with addiction and mental health issues. The audit found missing progress reports and discovered BHA could not show it had completed all required monitoring visits and had no documentation at all for some of them.
The audit also found that when employees were surveyed, 73% of them said they did not receive the necessary training to properly administer manage grants, with one employee saying, “Executive leadership has repetitively shown staff that they won’t take the staff’s concerns or questions seriously until something serious happens or it makes the news.”
The scathing report comes as Minnesota’s government agencies and leaders face immense scrutiny amid a fraud scandal that prosecutors say could total as much as $9 billion and has already forced Gov. Tim Walz to drop his re-election bid.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announces he will not seek reelection during a press conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 5. Walz said he concluded he could not give a political campaign his full effort and took no questions from reporters, as the state faces ongoing federal investigations into large-scale social services fraud. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Some reports have indicated a handful of Minnesota’s Democrat leaders allegedly took donations from some of those accused of committing fraud in Minnesota, while others have suggested Walz retaliated against whistleblowers who tried to sound the alarm about the fraud.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Jill and Joe Biden, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
