House report undercuts Walz timeline on Feeding Our Future payments

3h Twin Cities 1 source 5 relevant data

A new U.S. House Oversight Committee report released during a contentious hearing with Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison says Minnesota education officials voluntarily resumed Feeding Our Future payments in April 2021 before any court order — contradicting Walz’s public claim that a Ramsey County judge forced the state’s hand. The report cites Minnesota Department of Education Assistant Commissioner Daron Korte and nutrition director Emily Honer, who told congressional investigators the judge never issued a final ruling on the payment stoppage and that the court lacked jurisdiction to order MDE to keep paying; Judge John Guthmann had already issued a rare public rebuke in 2022, writing that MDE "voluntarily resumed payments" and that no order compelled reimbursements. According to the report, MDE flagged Feeding Our Future concerns to the governor’s office by April 2020, stopped processing applications in November 2020, halted payments in March 2021 for "serious deficiency," then restarted payments a month later and continued until January 2022, while Walz later told reporters he was "speechless" at a supposed ruling and suggested the judge should be investigated. The GOP-led committee is using the internal testimony to argue the Walz administration misled Minnesotans about its role, even as state officials point to USDA rules that make cutting off a sponsor extraordinarily difficult. For Twin Cities residents, this isn’t academic: those 2021 payments are the pot of public money that ultimately financed a giant share of the Minneapolis‑centered fraud spree and are now being used in Washington as political ammunition to justify deeper federal intrusion into Minnesota’s human‑services programs.

📌 Key Facts

House Oversight’s fraud report quotes MDE Assistant Commissioner Daron Korte saying concerns about Feeding Our Future were first raised internally in 2018 and sent to the governor’s office by April 2020.
MDE stopped Feeding Our Future applications in November 2020, halted payments in March 2021 as a 'serious deficiency,' then resumed payments in April 2021 and continued until January 2022 despite ongoing concerns.
Judge John Guthmann has stated in writing that MDE "voluntarily resumed" payments and that all reimbursements were made without a court order; MDE nutrition director Emily Honer told Congress the judge never issued a final ruling on the stop‑pay and found it was outside his jurisdiction.
Gov. Walz had previously blamed a court order for restarting payments and suggested the judge should be investigated, a narrative now contradicted by both the judge and MDE’s own staff in sworn or on‑the‑record statements.
State officials told Congress that USDA regulations and federal constraints made it difficult to terminate Feeding Our Future even after deficiencies were identified, an argument the House report treats skeptically.

📊 Relevant Data

The Feeding Our Future fraud scheme involved charges against nearly 100 individuals, the majority of whom are Somali immigrants.

Somali Welfare Fraud in Minnesota Has Cost American Taxpayers Billions — The Heritage Foundation

As of 2024, approximately 107,000 people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, representing about 2% of the state's total population of around 5.7 million.

By the numbers: Minnesota's Somali population, according to census data — KTTC

The migration of Somalis to Minnesota has created stark socioeconomic disparities, with high poverty rates among Somali immigrants.

Somali Immigrants in Minnesota — Center for Immigration Studies

Minnesota became a hub for Somali immigrants starting in the 1990s due to federal refugee resettlement programs following the Somali civil war.

How Minnesota became a hub for Somali immigrants in the U.S. — NPR

The Feeding Our Future fraud scheme defrauded $250 million from federal child nutrition programs.

U.S. Attorney Announces Federal Charges Against 47 Defendants in $250 Million Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme — U.S. Department of Justice