With federal investigations in Minnesota exposing large-scale fraud in child nutrition and Medicaid-related programs, Washington Congressman Michael Baumgartner, a Republican, on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, calling on them to conduct a program‑integrity review of federally funded benefits in Washington state, a recent news release stated.
“Washington families deserve to know their tax dollars are paying for real meals and real care, not padding the pockets of scammers,” Baumgartner said in a news release. “Minnesota is a cautionary tale for every state: when state authorities fast track welfare payments with weak front‑end controls and lax enforcement, fraudsters will pounce. My goal is simple: get independent confirmation that Washington’s safeguards are working, and if they are not, fix the problems now rather than after a headline‑grabbing scandal.”
Baumgartner is asking two departments to check whether Washington state’s taxpayer-funded welfare programs show any of the same vulnerabilities that have led to industrial-scale fraud schemes in other states — and to either validate that safeguards are working or spell out what needs to be fixed, the release stated.
He specifically requests a federal integrity review of:
• USDA: Child Nutrition Programs administered in Washington (including sponsor and sites), and other state-administered USDA nutrition benefits where relevant.
• HHS: Medicaid-funded services and waiver programs, child care subsidy-related federal funding streams, and any other HHS-administrated programs in Washington that rely heavily on provider networks or subcontracted service delivery.
