[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S141-S143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

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COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE; ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT; AND INTERIOR 
  AND ENVIRONMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6938, which the 
clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 299, H.R. 6938, a bill 
     making consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.


                      Tribute to Brenna Teerlinck

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am here to honor a young Iowan. I do 
it during this month of January because January is National Blood Donor 
Month.
  It seems hard to believe, but every 2 seconds someone in the United 
States needs blood. Yet less than 10 percent of those who can donate 
blood actually donate blood. Regular blood donations can help a family 
member, a neighbor, and perhaps in most cases, a stranger.
  An Iowan who can inspire us all to donate blood is Brenna Teerlinck. 
Last fall, Brenna, a St. Ambrose University student in Davenport, IA, 
was inducted into the National Blood Donation Hall of Fame. She is the 
youngest person ever to receive this honor.
  At age 16, Brenna was inspired to donate blood for her cousin, who 
was battling a rare immune disorder. She is now a freshman in college. 
Even though she is in college, Brenna continues to donate blood 
regularly. Her bravery and dedication ought to inspire us all to donate 
blood.
  Congratulations, Brenna.
  I yield the floor.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.


                               Minnesota

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, recent reports suggest that widespread 
fraud has taken root in the State of Minnesota. Prosecutors say that 
industrial-scale fraud has affected at least 14 federally funded 
programs in the State and that, since 2018, $9 billion or more may have 
been stolen from these programs--stolen from taxpayers and from the 
people in need that these programs are meant to help.
  There have been nearly eight indictments related to just one 
organization that received $250 million by claiming to have served 
meals to needy people during the pandemic. In another case, prosecutors 
say that a program designed to help people at risk of homelessness was 
subject to widespread fraud, with its costs ballooning to more than 
$100 million in just 4 years. In yet another case, prosecutors state 
that a fraudulent provider stole $14 million from a program to provide 
therapy to children with autism, and I could go on.
  One has to wonder how this could happen, and I hope we will soon find 
out.
  Last week, every Republican Senator joined Senator Cassidy's letter 
to the Governor of Minnesota, demanding answers about the large-scale 
fraud that appears to have happened on his watch. The Department of 
Justice has surged resources to Minnesota to assist in prosecuting 
these crimes, and the Trump administration recently announced it is 
creating a new position in the Department of Justice focused on 
investigating instances of fraud across the country because, 
unfortunately, cases of waste, fraud, and abuse are not confined to one 
State. The Government Accountability Office estimates that as much as 
$500 billion in Federal funds is lost each year to fraud--not an 
inconsequential sum--and every one of those

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dollars is a dollar that isn't going to an American in need.
  Republicans have been working to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in 
Federal programs--the same type of abuses now coming to light in 
Minnesota. Our landmark legislation, the Working Families Tax Cuts, 
included a number of reforms to focus Federal dollars on those most in 
need, guard against abuses of taxpayer funds, and hold States 
accountable for the Federal funding that they receive.
  New measures in the law prevent noncitizens from receiving Federal 
healthcare and nutrition benefits and refocus those programs to serving 
American citizens. The law also strengthens work requirements for able-
bodied, working-age adults without young children, and it increases 
accountability.
  The new law requires States to check eligibility for certain Medicaid 
enrollees twice per year and to remove ineligible people from their 
Medicaid rolls more quickly. It takes aim at duplicative enrollment in 
Federal healthcare programs, which CMS estimates is costing taxpayers 
as much as $14 billion per year; and it ensures deceased individuals 
don't continue receiving payments, as happened in Colorado a few years 
ago, costing taxpayers more than $7 million.
  We also took steps to hold States accountable for being good stewards 
of Federal funding. We are incentivizing States to reduce their error 
rates when making SNAP payments. Significantly, we took aim at rampant 
abuse of the provider tax loophole. Use of this loophole, which sees 
States inflate the price of healthcare services provided through 
Medicaid in order to garner larger reimbursement from the Federal 
Government, has been a problem for quite a while now. And thanks to 
waivers that the Biden administration issued to California and other 
blue States that allows them to further exploit a similar loophole, 
taxpayers were on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in new 
spending. So Republicans took action to rein in this abuse and reduce 
the bills that States are running up for taxpayers.
  Ensuring that Federal taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly 
and effectively on the people they are supposed to help ought to be a 
no-brainer, and it should not--not--be a partisan issue, but apparently 
it is. While Republicans were working to restore integrity to Federal 
programs, Democrats were panning our commonsense measures as ``cruel'' 
and then voted again and again to repeal them.
  We have heard little from Democrats condemning the fraud scandal 
currently engulfing the State of Minnesota, and Democrats have shown 
that they are perfectly willing to allow waste, fraud, and abuse to 
continue in the Affordable Care Act exchanges. That is right. Despite 
evidence of fraud in the ACA exchanges, Democrats have voted time and 
again to do nothing about it and have actually tried to repeal 
Republican-led reforms.
  There is waste, fraud, and abuse in ObamaCare, and it seems that the 
Biden COVID subsidies were especially susceptible to fraud. A recent 
report from the Government Accountability Office revealed that the ACA 
exchanges continue to enroll fake individuals, improperly pay out 
taxpayer-subsidized health insurance, and fail to ensure payment 
accuracy. The GAO tested 24 fake accounts on the ACA exchanges, and 23 
of them were enrolled with false or no documentation to verify Social 
Security numbers, citizenship, or reported income.
  Then there is the growing number of enrollees in the exchanges who 
filed zero claims. In 2024, 40 percent of people who got fully 
subsidized insurance coverage through the exchanges never filed a 
claim--40 percent. Now, there might be some good reasons for that, but 
it might also be because insurance companies are incentivized to sign 
people up, and these individuals may be signed up and not even know 
they have coverage. But Democrats have shown they are perfectly fine 
with the status quo. They voted numerous times to extend the enhanced 
subsidies without a single reform. They even shut down the government 
to try and extend them. These are just the beginning of the issues with 
ObamaCare.
  Work continues to investigate and prosecute criminals engaged in 
fraud and to, hopefully, recover the tax dollars that have been stolen. 
I certainly hope the individuals of Minnesota and other criminals 
around the country are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But 
we can't just hope to prosecute fraud; we need to prevent it. We need 
to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars and place guardrails on 
Federal programs to protect against nefarious schemes and bad actors. 
We need to ensure, when we commit taxpayer dollars to a particular 
program, that the money actually goes to the people that program is 
designed to help.
  Republicans have made progress on restoring integrity to Federal 
programs this past year, but we have more work to do, and we will 
continue our efforts to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and ensure 
that Federal programs are serving the American people as intended.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, when government wastes taxpayer money, 
taxpayers have a right to know what happened. And when emboldened 
criminals steal money intended to help single moms and children in 
need, taxpayers have a right to be angry.
  Americans--and I am hearing it in Wyoming, and I am sure you are 
hearing it, Mr. President, in your home State of Ohio--Americans are 
infuriated with the staggering amount of fraud unfolding today in the 
State of Minnesota. The past few weeks have shown just how deep the 
corruption in Minnesota has turned out to be.
  Investigators have now uncovered fraud schemes across 14 different 
Minnesota Medicaid Programs. Most people don't even know there are 14 
different Medicaid Programs. There is fraud in all of them in 
Minnesota.
  Joe Thompson, U.S. attorney in Minnesota, has spent his career 
prosecuting fraud, and based on his extensive investigation, he 
believes criminals have now stolen at least $9 billion--billion with a 
``b''--from those Minnesota Medicaid Programs. That is half of the 
total amount of money Minnesota spends for Medicaid Programs in the 
State. Today, the fraud is so prevalent that Thompson says the State 
has ``developed a fraud tourism''--tourism--``industry.'' Can you 
imagine that--``a fraud tourism industry.''
  Here is how these schemes work. Criminals, fraudsters, set up fake 
businesses for nonprofit organizations. The criminals then claim to 
provide services--services such as housing, food, and healthcare 
assistance. Then they bill Medicaid. They bill them for services never 
provided. They use the names of children and enroll them into the 
programs. Sometimes the children don't exist. Sometimes the children 
exist, and they are signed up by parents who are getting paid 
fraudulently to let them use their children's names.
  In 2021, taxpayers paid $4.6 million for something called Minnesota's 
Integrated Community Support Medicaid Program. It is a mouthful. In 
2021, $4.6 million. Then the fraudsters hit. Three years later, due to 
criminal fraud, spending for that program ballooned to more than $170 
million. From $4 million to $170 million--that is 37 times as much in 
just 3 years. Money completely stolen as the Governor and others in 
Minnesota, the Democrat elected officials, looked the other way.
  Taxpayers similarly paid $21 million in 2021 for something called 
Minnesota's Housing Stabilization Services. In the first 6 months of 
last year, due to criminal fraud, Democrats looking the other way, 
taxpayers paid nearly three times that amount.
  A Medicaid Program claiming to help Minnesota children with autism 
cost $6 million in 2018. By 2023, due to criminal fraud, it went from 
$6 million to $192 million.
  Daycare fraud is just one of these brazen schemes where the Democrats 
in Minnesota look the other way. Last month, an independent journalist 
visited 10 State-funded daycare sites in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-
Saint Paul. He found no children at the

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daycare centers--middle of the day, not a single child was there.
  One year ago, a local reporter visited several of those same sites. 
The reporter found no children at the daycare centers. They are 
supposed to be daycare centers, and getting paid to take care of 
children.
  Here is one of those sites. This is a sign from one of the sites. It 
is called--you can't make this stuff up--Quality ``Learing'' Center. It 
is supposed to be a learning center. They can't even spell ``learning'' 
right. But that doesn't stop the Democrats in Minnesota who keep 
shoveling money right to these programs, stealing money from the 
taxpayers--from the Democrats, going to Democrats who are running these 
things.
  It is appalling. The people of the United States are appalled and are 
furious. This ought to be a red flag for fraud. Why aren't the 
Democrats who run the place doing anything about it?
  There were 95 violations for this ``learing'' center alone between 
2019 and 2023. Violations occurred. No records on the children. But 
Minnesota's--run by the Democrats--taxpayer money continued to flow. It 
is disgraceful.
  These aren't just one-off abuses. We now know that the fraud schemes 
used in the State's childcare programs have been used to defraud other 
social programs as well.
  Even the New York Times has pointed to this. They say the fraud in 
Minnesota, run by the Democrats, is ``staggering in its scale and 
brazenness.''
  I don't see any Democrats coming to the floor here today to point out 
the fraud, talk about what is happening there, how the money has been 
stolen from people that need it, the services that are needed by 
people. That means they are not getting it.
  The Department of Justice has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota 
Medicaid fraud-related cases. So far, 64 of these have been convicted.
  Last month, one defendant was found guilty of stealing $14 million 
from Medicaid. Yes, she did. She stole $14 million from Medicaid. You 
don't hear a word from the Minnesota Democrats coming to the floor here 
to talk about it. Nope.
  She also stole nearly half a million dollars from child nutrition 
programs.
  The Democrats come to the floor and say: Oh, we need more money for 
child nutrition and more money for child healthcare. Why aren't they 
looking at where the money is being taken from the mouths of the 
children?
  For fraudsters, how much money was taken? Let's put this into 
perspective. The stolen money was supposed to be used to provide 
200,000 meals for hungry children who did not get fed. Democrats must 
think that is fine. The defendant instead sent the hundreds of 
thousands of dollars overseas, and she bought real estate in Kenya, in 
Africa. Apparently, that is how business goes in Minnesota with the 
Democrats who are running that State.
  This organized, systemic theft has gone on for years under Democrat 
leadership, and it really exploded under Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and 
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
  The Democrats have permitted schemes stacked upon schemes to drain 
money meant for those in need. Republicans are not going to allow this 
massive theft of taxpayer dollars to be ignored. Democrats want us to 
just look the other way. We are talking about a comprehensive approach 
to root out the fraud in Minnesota and across the country.
  Now, our Working Families Tax Cuts law fights fraud. We strengthened 
eligibility requirements for Medicaid. We ensured that illegal 
immigrants don't receive taxpayer-funded healthcare. We put in place 
work requirements for Medicaid and for food stamps. These policies will 
protect taxpayers and will increase accountability.
  Additionally, Republicans are conducting aggressive congressional 
oversight. On Friday, the entire Senate Republican conference demanded 
Governor Walz explain his actions. We asked nine specific, detailed 
questions--questions such as why Minnesota failed to adopt key fraud 
prevention measures. Why aren't they trying to prevent the fraud? Why 
do they keep looking the other way?
  These are measures that the Department of Health and Human Services 
recommended to Minnesota back in May. Nope. Governor Walz wants nothing 
to do with it. He knew about this widespread fraud. He refused to do 
anything about it.
  Senate Republicans are ready to give the Trump administration the 
manpower it needs to tackle this fraud in Minnesota and wherever else 
it appears and occurs.
  The Trump administration has asked the Senate to confirm a new 
Assistant Attorney General position--a position that will be focused on 
the fraud--and the Senate will get that person in place and on the job 
quickly.
  The Trump administration has taken other bold and decisive actions to 
stop fraud. To further strengthen enforcement efforts, the Department 
of Justice has doubled the number of attorneys handling these fraud 
cases. The Treasury Department is cracking down on businesses in 
Minnesota for alleged money laundering because that is what is 
happening. The Department of Health and Human Services under President 
Trump froze Federal funding for fraud-prone programs in Minnesota.
  If Senate Democrats care about stopping fraud, why are they preparing 
to vote today to loosen eligibility and income verifications for 
ObamaCare subsidies? They ought to want to be tightening these things 
up. But that is what the Congressional Review Act resolution from 
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia does, and we are going to vote on it 
today. Eliminating these vital protections invites more fraud. It means 
subsidies go to individuals who don't qualify for them.
  Congress shouldn't make it easier to defraud the American taxpayers. 
This is the wrong direction to take after the biggest fraud scandal in 
Minnesota history. Protecting taxpayer dollars should not be a partisan 
issue. The fraud scandal in Minnesota should be a wake-up call for 
every American taxpayer.
  Our Federal Government spends nearly $1.5 trillion each and every 
year to try to help feed and house and treat and care for vulnerable 
families and children. Those programs are there for a reason, but 
Democrats seem to think they are there to be a piggy bank for people 
who want to steal from the government.
  Medicaid, food stamps, and other social programs have been called a 
lifeline. Years of waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption have pushed 
those who truly need the help away from the lifeline and to the back of 
the line. That is what Democrats have been enabling and continue to 
enable.
  Republicans aren't going to stop until the depth of this fraud is 
uncovered and prosecuted, and Republicans are committed to preventing 
it from happening again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.

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