Biden Minnesota Child Care Funding Visit with Walz
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Former first lady, Jill Biden, went to Minnesota in 2022 to highlight the billions of dollars in investments for childcare that were part of democrats’ american Rescue Plan Act, where she stood next to Minnesota Gov. tim Walz and praised him for his leadership helping families.
“we helped states like Minnesota safely keep open child care centers and family child care providers and boost pay for their workers,” Biden said during a february 2022 visit to the
University of Minnesota’s Child Development Laboratory School, alongside Walz and then-Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We supported high quality providers that enrich children’s lives and we helped make them more affordable.”
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion COVID-era relief package, allocated nearly $40 billion for childcare after it was passed without any Republican support.Meanwhile, roughly 4 years after the first lady went to Minnesota to tout the Democrat-led investments in childcare, Walz and his state are facing immense blowback for allegedly failing to adequately monitor fraud within the state’s Medicaid program and its childcare sector. According to a local Fox affiliate, daycares in Minnesota received roughly $500 million in federal funds in 2021.
BESSENT SAYS MINNESOTA FRAUD RECOVERY COULD HELP FUND TRUMP’S $1.5T DEFENSE PLAN
A new audit revealed Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) failed to properly oversee $425 million in grants awarded to over 800 organizations between July 2022 and December 2024. The report, released Monday, details missing progress reports and a lack of documentation proving required monitoring visits were completed. This comes as state officials grapple with a massive fraud scandal potentially reaching $9 billion, which already prompted Governor Tim walz to withdraw from the upcoming election.
The audit focused on grants distributed by the Behavioral Health Assistance (BHA) division of DHS. Investigators found BHA couldn’t demonstrate adequate oversight of the funds, many of which were intended for addiction and mental health services.
Internal surveys revealed notable concerns among DHS employees. A staggering 73% reported they hadn’t received sufficient training to manage the grants effectively. One employee stated that leadership “repetitively shown staff that they won’t take the staff’s concerns or questions seriously until something serious happens or it makes the news.”
The findings add to the pressure on Minnesota’s government as prosecutors investigate widespread fraud. Senator J.D. Vance recently criticized Governor Walz, alleging he enabled the fraudulent activity.
You can read the full audit here.