(The Center Square) – Officials within the administration of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz enabled some of the state’s now estimated $9 billion in taxpayeer-funded social services fraud by suppressing some fraud reports, retaliating against whistleblowers and changing protocols to mask criminal behavior., Republican Minnesota state lawmakers testified at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

State Reps. Walter Hudson, Marion Rarick, and Kristin Robbins are members of their legislature’s committee on fraud prevention, which has been investigating some of the same instances of fraud that have captured the national spotlight in the last several months. All three of them were invited to testify at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s first of at least two scheduled hearings on the rampant social services fraud that led Walz to withdraw his bid for reelection in 2026.

Rarick in particular spoke about the pressure and opposition whistleblowers have said they have faced. According to Rarick, what was once a group of about 480 disenchanted current and former state Department of Health Services employees has grown to over 1,000 people across multiple state agencies. Those DHS employees started an account on X called Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary, and many have been more than willing to talk with the fraud prevention committee about what they have found and experienced.

“They have explained that they live in a constant state of fear of retaliation,” Rarick...

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