DAVE BOSSIE: Minnesota Fraud Scandal Shines Light On COVID Era Spending Levels And Neglect

There are many reasons that the United States of America has allowed itself to be consumed by a $38 trillion national debt that’s now growing exponentially on a daily basis.  The good news is that sometimes a scandal emerges from out of nowhere to become a catalyst for change.

To put a fine point on our spending emergency, it took our great country 211 years to reach a $5 trillion debt, but we’ve managed to accumulate a mind-blowing $33 trillion in additional debt in just the past 25 years. Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, federal spending has ballooned from an already whopping $4.4 trillion annually to a now unfathomable $7 trillion.

This existential financial crisis — and top national security threat — has everything to do with ever-expanding entitlements like Social Security and Medicare that are speeding toward insolvency, and other grossly unchecked social safety net programs in dire need of common-sense reform, particularly in the wake of unprecedented COVID-19 era waste, fraud, and abuse.  Unfortunately, this sinful mindset of carelessness and excess isn’t unique to the federal level. (RELATED: Tim Walz Pivots To Attacking White Men When Asked If Somalis Will Be Held Accountable For Fraud)

Look no further than the infuriating multi-year fraud investigations and prosecutions that are enveloping the state of Minnesota and the administration of radical left-wing Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison.  It’s alleged and methodically proven that more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money was stolen by non-profit groups, including Feeding Our Future, who were pocketing enormous sums of money from nutrition, housing, and healthcare programs instead of using the funds for legitimate purposes.

This criminal activity has been described as “the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme” in the country and shines a bright, long overdue light on the shameful pattern of exploitation by those, both in and out of government, who took advantage of lax oversight during the fog of COVID-19 to maximize the abuse of taxpayer dollars while answering to no one.

An eye-popping 59 individuals have been convicted to date in the schemes according to authorities. Approximately 90 percent of those charged are of Somali descent, which represents an important Democrat voting bloc in Minnesota.  These statistics have led to the serious allegations that good government whistleblowers were being ignored, perhaps as early as 2019, and the activity was allowed to continue due to both political pressure and “political correctness” during the rise of cancel culture and the scourge of wokeism.

It’s also been alleged that some of the stolen funds in question are being routed to Somalia and ending up in the worst hands imaginable.  That’s why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently posted that his department “is investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.”

To make matters worse, it’s been revealed that some prominent Democrats in Minnesota received campaign contributions from those involved in the scams, including Ellison and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.  In fact, a recent letter from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to Ellison stated “You were caught on tape pledging to help Feeding Our Future fraudsters in a conversation that also included discussion of campaign donations from Somali community leaders to secure your donor base…”  These troubling revelations require full transparency and swift answers.

A steady drumbeat of stories concerning across the board COVID-19 era program mismanagement is reaching a fever pitch because some courageous officials are sounding the alarm and demanding the biased mainstream media start doing its job.  And right on cue, the failed Obamacare program is back in news due to the debate over whether to continue COVID subsidies and a startling new GAO report that outlines rampant fraud in former President Barack Obama’s infamous piece of legislation.

The report in question found that one Social Security number was tied to 125 different policies and $94 million in subsidies were associated with the Social Security numbers of people who are no longer living.  A New York Post headline summed the horrible situation up perfectly when it proclaimed, “Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90% of fake accounts set up by government watchdog.”  The bottom line is that Americans are sick and tired of being robbed by swindlers who are being aided and abetted by faceless bureaucrats and dishonest politicians who have no respect for the hardworking people paying their salaries.

When President Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the beginning of his historic second term, he was mercilessly attacked by the radical left and scores of Democrat members of Congress for having the audacity to audit our debt-ridden federal government. But as the Minnesota fraud case and the wasteful spending in Obamacare make abundantly clear, a no-nonsense DOGE operation with teeth is needed at every level of government, whether it’s federal, state, county, or municipal. Our country must return to pre-COVID spending levels without delay and elect only those who have the spine necessary to adequately address our spiraling debt crisis.

David Bossie is the president of Citizens United and served as a senior adviser to the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign. In 2016, Bossie served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President and deputy executive director for the Trump-Pence Transition Team.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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