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Senator Ted Cruz convened a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on February 4, 2026, to expose what he rightly called a scandal of epic proportions in Minnesota. The hearing featured testimony from investigative journalists and advocates, and included an often-heated exchange with Robert Weissman of Public Citizen that highlighted the sharp divide between accountability-minded conservatives and the left-wing defenders of the status quo.
Cruz did not shy away from naming names and accusing top Minnesota Democrats of ducking responsibility — he publicly said Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were invited to testify and declined to do so, which only fuels suspicion about what they may be hiding. Conservatives watching the hearing saw Weissman’s answers as a defensive dodge, the sort of bureaucratic equivocation that protects political allies instead of taxpayers. If public officials refuse to answer tough questions under oath, they deserve the same scrutiny the fraudsters receive.
The scale of the alleged theft is staggering: House Republican investigators and state witnesses have pointed to as much as $9 billion in crooked reimbursements spanning child nutrition, autism services, housing aid, and Medicaid-related programs. These were programs designed to help vulnerable Americans, not bank operatives for swindlers who learned how to game a broken system. Ordinary Minnesotans who play by the rules are understandably furious that federal dollars meant for kids and the disabled were allegedly diverted on this scale.
Federal authorities have mounted an aggressive response: recent government briefings and fact sheets indicate dozens of indictments and convictions across multiple connected schemes, with hundreds of warrants and subpoenas executed as investigators dig deeper. The Justice Department’s activity in the state and the number of charged defendants underline that this is not a few isolated scams but a sprawling network that exploited emergency-era looseness and lax state oversight. Americans deserve to know who looked the other way while these scams grew.
Enough shrugging and finger-pointing. The mainstream press has begun to document how the Feeding Our Future scandal and related cases unfolded, and that reporting should be a clarion call for criminal referrals and prosecutions of any public officials who ignored red flags. Political tribalism must not become a shield for corruption; if evidence shows state leaders turned a blind eye or silenced whistleblowers, they should face real consequences — not PR statements and investigations that go nowhere.
This is about the rule of law and the dignity of taxpayers who work hard to support these programs. Conservatives should stand unapologetically for victims of fraud, demand prosecutions where warranted, and push for reforms so federal funds are audited and verified before they disappear into shadowy networks. Washington politicians of both parties must watch this moment: accountability matters, and hardworking Americans will settle for nothing less.
