GOP senators launch task force to crack down on fraud tied to Minnesota scandal
FIRST ON FOX: A cohort of Senate Republicans plans to launch a targeted task force aimed at tackling fraudsters in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal.Republican members of the...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: A cohort of Senate Republicans plans to launch a targeted task force aimed at tackling fraudsters in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal. Republican members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced that they would form a task force dedicated to rooting out fraudsters abusing federal funding. The seven-member panel will be led by HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy , R-La., who has cranked up efforts in recent weeks to crack down on fraud, particularly in Minnesota. KEY SENATOR WON'T FUND DHS AS ICE, FEDERAL AGENTS ENTER HIS STATE "Our tax dollars are supposed to help American families, not line the pockets of fraudsters," Cassidy said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "HELP Committee Republicans are committed to rooting out this fraud and ensuring Americans’ tax dollars are used responsibly." The long-running, nearly six years long investigation into alleged fraud in Minnesota gained new attention and traction among Republicans and the White House earlier this year. The scandal, in which 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, has dominated the bandwidth of many in the GOP and spurred the Trump administration's deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into Minneapolis. The majority of those charged, so far, in the ongoing investigation are part of Minnesota's Somali population. The Trump administration has taken steps outside the deploying of ICE agents to target Somalis in the area, too, including ending protected status for the population and launching investigations into whether the fraudulent activity is connected to al-Shabab, a terrorist organization based in Somalia. SENATE DEMS REVOLT AGAINST DHS FUNDING BILL AMID MINNEAPOLIS CHAOS, HIKING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN RISK The task force will delineate its focus into three prongs: health, education and labor and pension…