Overview
- Secretary Brooke Rollins notified Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey that all active and future USDA awards to the state and city, totaling just over $129 million, are suspended effective immediately.
- Minnesota must submit payment justifications for every federal dollar spent from Jan. 20, 2025 to the present within 30 days, and future disbursements will require such justifications.
- The action cites large-scale schemes including the Feeding Our Future case tied to child nutrition programs, with prosecutors reporting roughly 78 defendants charged in what DOJ labeled the largest COVID-19 fraud involving those funds.
- USDA’s move follows wider federal scrutiny: HHS funding pauses, SBA investigations, a new IRS task force announced by Treasury, and DOJ sending additional prosecutors to Minnesota, even as a judge temporarily blocked a broader HHS restriction on child-care aid to multiple states.
- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison vowed to challenge the USDA suspension in court, and reporting notes uncertainty over which programs will be affected, with SNAP benefits typically continuing though administrative functions could face strain.