Baumgartner Calls for Federal Review to Safeguard Taxpayer Dollars in Washington State’s Benefit Programs

WASHINGTON- With federal investigations in Minnesota exposing large-scale fraud in child nutrition and Medicaid-related programs, Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) today sent a letter to 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. 

“Washington families deserve to know their tax dollars are paying for real meals and real care, not padding the pockets of scammers,” Congressman Baumgartner said. “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.”

In his letter, Baumgartner warns that Minnesota’s experience should serve as a national cautionary tale, writing: “Recent developments in Minnesota highlight a recurring risk profile that is not unique to one state or one program: when large federal funding streams are administered at the state level through extensive networks of third-party providers, sponsors, subrecipients, or contractors—especially where enrollment is easy, documentation is limited, and payments are made before meaningful verification—fraud risks can scale quickly.”

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. 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 (CMS), child care subsidy-related federal funding streams (ACF), and any other HHS-administrated programs in Washington that rely heavily on provider networks or subcontracted service delivery

Read the full letter here.