GOP senator's SOMALIA Act would force Minnesota fraudsters to repay stolen taxpayer funds
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to crack down on childcare providers convicted of fraud with legislation that would, among a handful of tweaks to current law, require the...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to crack down on childcare providers convicted of fraud with legislation that would, among a handful of tweaks to current law, require the fraudsters to pay back the misspent taxpayer money. The bill from Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas, would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act to impose harsher penalties on childcare providers convicted of fraud, and one of several moves in the upper chamber to tackle the sprawling Minnesota fraud scandal. Cornyn’s bill, the Stop Fraud by Strengthening Oversight and More Accountability for Lying and Illegal Activity (SOMALIA) Act, is narrowly tailored toward addressing fraudulent activity in childcare and daycare centers, but the breadth and scope of the unfurling scandal goes beyond that. 'TIP OF THE ICEBERG': SENATE REPUBLICANS PRESS GOV WALZ OVER MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL Federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion was stolen through a network of fraudulent fronts posing as daycare centers, food programs and health clinics. "The Minnesota scandal has exposed a deep-rooted, morally bankrupt fraud empire, and it is clear more must be done to rid our nation of these heinous criminals," Cornyn said in a statement to Fox News Digital. The legislation would require mandatory permanent debarment from all federally funded child care assistance programs, repay misspent federal funds, require referral for federal criminal investigations, and require states to enforce the above bans and halt providers from evading debarment by restructuring the business or changing the business name. MINNESOTA FACES FUNDING DEADLINE AFTER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FREEZES CHILD CARE PAYMENTS There’s also an immigration component to the bill that would make non-citizens convicted of fraud deportable, bar them from asylum, adjustment of status, and subject them to mandatory detention and expedited removal. Cornyn’s effort is one of many coming from the Senate GOP, where lawmakers are looking at several op…