Tim Walz watched fraudsters steal $350 million from programs meant to feed children – and did nothing.
Now Trump is done waiting.
Forty conservative state watchdogs just handed JD Vance something Democrats never saw coming – and it changes everything about how this war on fraud gets fought.
Vance's War on Fraud Just Got 40 Allies and $28 Billion in Proof
The State Financial Officers Foundation – representing 40 conservative treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers across 28 states – sent Vance a letter this week that reads like a battle plan, not a press release.
Their inaugural 2025 Oversight Report documents $28 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse that state-level watchdogs identified and stopped last year alone.
These aren't bureaucrats filing memos nobody reads.
Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia caught nearly $2 billion in excessive spending.
Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball uncovered more than $836 million in improper Medicaid payments.
North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek found more than $1 billion in lapsed salaries from long-term vacancies.
Utah Auditor Tina Cannon identified $518 million in fraud, waste, and abuse across agencies and nonprofits receiving state and federal funds.
That's four states, four different programs, billions recovered – and it's just a sample.
Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Is Just the First Target
Every president since Reagan has promised to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
None of them had JD Vance on the phone with Scott Bessent talking about pulling income tax records, or Dr. Mehmet Oz promising to "padlock the cookie jar" at Medicare and Medicaid, or a Justice Department division specifically created for national fraud enforcement.
Vance announced the first concrete move Wednesday – withholding $259.5 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota until Tim Walz proves the state is actually checking whether providers delivered the services they billed for.
"The fact that there are so many people handing out millions and billions of dollars of federal Medicaid money without even confirming that they're doing the thing that they say that they're doing," Vance said, "it's a disgrace."
He's right.
Federal prosecutors have already charged 79 people connected to Minnesota's Feeding Our Future scandal – the largest COVID-relief fraud case in U.S. history – and the total tab could top $350 million.
One defendant got 12 years and a $47 million restitution order.
The ringleaders? Convicted on all counts in March 2025.
And that's just one scheme in one state.
Federal investigators are now probing an estimated $9 billion in fraud across more than a dozen Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota alone.
The Scale Democrats Don't Want You to See
The Government Accountability Office – nonpartisan – estimates federal taxpayers lose between $233 billion and $521 billion to fraud every year.
Every year.
Medicaid alone lost $31 billion in fiscal year 2024.
That's money that was supposed to pay for care for sick Americans – gone to fraudsters who set up shell businesses, enrolled fake clients, and billed for services that were never delivered.
In Minnesota, programs meant to deliver after-school services to autistic children were hollowed out by fraudsters who set up fake clients, collected the checks, and never provided an ounce of care.
"There are kids in Minnesota who need these services, and they're not going to those kids," Vance said Wednesday.
SFOF CEO OJ Oleka put it plainly in his letter to Vance: "The American people deserve nothing less."
His coalition oversees more than $3 trillion in state funds – and they're ready to coordinate with the White House to take the fight national.
That's the difference between this war on fraud and every other one.
Forty independent state watchdogs, elected outside the control of Democrat governors and compliant legislatures, who've already proven they can find the money – and Vance now has the federal authority to make it hurt when they do.
Sources:
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Report Exposes Billions in Uncovered Fraud, Waste as Watchdog Coalition Offers Support to Trump's Crackdown," Fox News, February 27, 2026.
- Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, "It's a Disgrace: Vance Reveals Playbook for Combating Fraud in United States," The Daily Signal, February 25, 2026.
- HHS Press Office, "Trump Administration Prioritizes Affordability by Announcing Major Crackdown on Health Care Fraud," HHS.gov, February 25, 2026.
- "Vance Launches Into Trump's 'War on Fraud' by Suspending Medicaid Payments to Minnesota," Deseret News, February 26, 2026.
- "Fraud Czar JD Vance: Social Safety Net to Disappear Unless We Take Combatting Fraud More Seriously," Breitbart, February 26, 2026.
- "The Policy Lessons from Minnesota's Massive Welfare Fraud," American Enterprise Institute, December 2025.
