'Time For Answers': Gov. Tim Walz Subpoenaed By House GOP Committee After $250 Million Fraud Scandal

On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee, led by Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), subpoenaed Democrat vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) for documents related to an ongoing investigation into a $250 million fraud scandal that targeted taxpayer-funded meal programs for children. In 2022, 70 individuals involved with the non-profit organization Feeding Our Future (FOF) were charged, and over a dozen have already been convicted.

Despite requesting documents on multiple occasions from the governor's office, Chairwoman Foxx wrote in her letter to the governor that her committee has "been unable to obtain substantive responsive materials in the many voluntary requests." In addition to Gov. Walz being subpoenaed by Rep. Foxx, the committee also subpoenaed Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Willie Jett, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Department of Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong.

The scandal, which involves the USDA-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), focuses on the Minnesota-based non-profit organization Feeding Our Future (FOF) that the state government reimbursed for providing meals to children. Gov. Walz has admitted that the state government didn't do enough due diligence when reimbursing the organization but added that no state employees had been implicated in the scheme.

In a statement to Axios about the subpoena, a spokesman for Walz explained that they were grateful that the FBI is taking action to hold those accountable for the criminal activity. "This was an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program," the Walz spokesperson explained. "The state department of education worked diligently to stop the fraud, and we're grateful to the FBI for working with the department of education to arrest and charge the individuals involved."

As previously reported by the DC Enquirer, Rep. Foxx's subpoena isn't the only legislative action being taken by House Republicans. Last month, Chairman Comer launched an investigation into Walz's ties with the Chinese Communist Party, citing the fact that Walz served as a fellow at a Chinese institution devoted to the CCP and spoke alongside the president of a Chinese organization that was exposed to have been used by the CCP to co-opt local leaders. 

In a press release, Rep. Comer explained that Gov. Walz organized annual trips to China for his high school students from 1993 to 2003 with costs covered by the Chinese government. "Mr. Walz organized a trip to the PRC with Alliance High School students, where costs were paid by the Chinese government. In 1994, Mr. Walz set up a private company named "Educational Travel Adventures, Inc.," which coordinated annual student trips to the PRC until 2003 and was led by Mr. Walz himself," the press release explains. "The corporation was reportedly dissolved four days after he took congressional office in 2007. Since his first trip to China, Governor Walz has visited the PRC an estimated 30 times."

"While serving in Congress, Mr. Walz also served as a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a 'long held devotion to and love for the motherland,'" Comer's office explained. "Governor Walz spoke alongside the President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which, a year later, the Department of State exposed as 'a Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments,' including efforts' to directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC's global agenda.'"

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