House Democrats spent an entire hearing on Wednesday outright dismissing the fraud committed by Somalis in Minnesota, despite there being witnesses providing evidence relating to the cases.
The House Oversight Committee held the hearing to address the fraud that has gained national media attention, particularly after federal prosecutors have charged over 90 defendants with stealing over $9 billion from federal social service programs. Instead of addressing the scandal, many congressional Democrats spent time accusing President Donald Trump of fraud and avoided asking the witnesses with knowledge any questions.
Democratic California Rep. Robert Garcia dedicated his opening statement to criticizing Trump’s so-called fraud.
“[Trump] continues, of course, to pardon fraudsters and connected folks that have donated immense amounts of money to his campaign,” Garcia said. “Now, this hurts not just Democratic families, but Republican families. It’s innocent kids, regardless of political party, who need child care. We are in an affordability crisis, and the majority is not going after the real fraud that’s being committed to the American public. While Donald Trump attacks these states, the Wall Street Journal on Monday reported a massive Mississippi scandal. Mississippi, of course, isn’t on Trump’s list. We don’t have witnesses from Mississippi here today.”
Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch attempted to distract from the Minnesota fraud by ranting about Trump adding his name to the Kennedy Center. He spent four minutes talking about former President John F. Kennedy’s legacy.
“For those of you who are too young to remember, JFK was a war hero from my state,” Lynch said. “He was an Irish Catholic, first Catholic elected president. Fought a lot of bigotry during his time trying to become president. He actually stood up to the Russians. But he was a war hero, a decorated war hero. He’s the only United States president to ever have received the Purple Heart.”
“He also received the Medal of Valor from the Navy and Marine Corps. Because during World War II, he was commanding a PT boat, PT 109,” the congressman continued.
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Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna spent his time calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. He also accused them of creating a partisan hearing instead of actually addressing the real issues.
“I challenge my colleagues on the Republican side, let’s have an audit of all 50 states to make sure that government money is spent wisely,” Khanna said. “We don’t need to make these partisan hearings. Every American has a stake in making sure that they have a receipt for where their tax dollars are going. Every American has a stake if we’re going to ask them to pay tax to make sure that that money isn’t being wasted. And I’d like to see this committee work together to stand up for basic fairness of the American taxpayers.
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Democratic Maryland Kweisi Mfume accused his Republican colleagues and the witnesses of xenophobia as they factually brought up that Somalis are largely responsible for the fraud.
“It’s concerning to me also to have heard some of the xenophobia that began earlier in this hearing, Mr. Chairman, differences, differences versus similarities. And when we do that, we create the problems that we always are trying to do away with. Asking witnesses to give their opinion of Somalis as a general group of Americans, asking witnesses their opinion, do you think they vote for Democrats? Do you think they just give money to Democrats?”
“What is your opinion of Somalians? We might as well say, ‘what is your opinion of Jews?’ ‘What is your opinion of black people?’ What is your opinion of Latinos?’” Mfume continued.
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Fifty-seven defendants have been convicted in connection with the $350 million stolen from Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit aimed at providing meals to lower-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In December, YouTuber Nick Shirley exposed 10 Somali daycare centers that appear not to be providing services, despite receiving taxpayer funds.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dropped his reelection bid in the 2026 gubernatorial race as he faces scrutiny for his handling of the fraud. The witnesses at the hearing, all of whom are Minnesota state legislators, alleged Walz knew about the fraud when he became governor in January 2019.
Aside from Walz, prominent Democrats rushed to defend Somalis, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who stated in a Dec. 2 X post that Somalis are part of the city’s “family.” Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan wore a hijab on a Somali TV station to express solidarity with the community.
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