THE FENCE POST: Craig introduces bill on fraud in federal meals programs

Amid the scandal over social program fraud in Minnesota, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., reintroduced a bill focusing on fraud in federal programs.

Craig’s Stop Fraud in Federal Programs Act would increase the penalty for federal programs bribery to 20 years in prison and require sponsors to have third-party auditors. “For example, this would ensure that sponsors, like Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future, whose leadership was involved in a more than $250 million pandemic-era fraud scheme, cannot self-certify that they have delivered meals, adding an extra layer of accountability,” according to a press release from her office.

It would also amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require audits of summer food school programs.

“The fraud that has been uncovered in Minnesota is not only a gross misuse of Minnesotans’ tax dollars, it’s a serious threat to public trust in our government,” said Craig. “We have to work to restore that trust and ensure fraud schemes like the one executed by Feeding Our Future can never happen again. That starts with prosecuting perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law, and this bill will help us do that.”