EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans are naming the centerpiece of a 12-figure anti-fraud package after Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz, arguing his administration's handling of massive welfare fraud schemes made him the symbol of government waste they hope to eliminate.Sen.
Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., is dropping the legislation just as fraud-exposing journalists, such as Nick Shirley, testify to the Homeland Security Committee about videotaped discoveries in the "Feeding Our Futures" scandal in Minnesota and other similar alleged rackets elsewhere on Wednesday.The "Welfare Abuse and Laundering Zillions (WALZ) Act" from Sen.Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is at the core of the broader anti-fraud package targeting Minnesota-style violations, COVID fraud, foreign remittance abuse and repeat offenders; projected to save taxpayers roughly $240 billion, Fox News Digital learned.WALZ A NO-SHOW AT KEY FRAUD HEARING DESPITE BEING IN THE BUILDING ON OTHER BUSINESS: GOP LEADERMinnesota Gov.
Tim Walz fields questions during a press conference about federal detention of children at the State Capitol building on February 3, 2026 in St.Paul, Minnesota.
Trump administration officials intend to appeal a judges decision to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos who returned to Minnesota over the weekend after being held in a Texas immigration detention facility.(Photo by ) (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)The WALZ Act requires federal payments be made as reimbursements to states only after a service is proven to have been provided – a process critics say Minnesota failed to police adequately.It also requires that if a state program receiving federal funding sees a six-month increase in disbursements of more than 10 percent, the HHS inspector general must investigate that program.FTC CHIEF ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF 'TRYING TO PROTECT THE FRAUDSTERS' BY WITHHOLDING DATA FROM TRUMP ADMINOne of Ernst’s pieces of the package, the Returning Unspent COVID Funds Act would claw back more than $65 billion in federally-disbu...