Federal funds in the crosshairs as Trump administration raises fraud concerns
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State human services and agriculture officials on Wednesday voiced concerns about federal funding stoppages threatened by the Trump administration.
More than $2 billion in Medicaid funds a year and $129 million in agriculture grants are in question after federal officials said state officials weren't complying with program rules or requests for additional information from the administration.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has appealed the funding freeze for 14 Medicaid programs. And State Medicaid Director John Connolly said he and others at the Department of Human Services sat down Wednesday with Dr. Mehmet Oz – the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Connolly said the meeting went well and he hoped CMS would let the state resolve potential concerns rather than slashing funding altogether. If the funding is cut, state lawmakers wouldn’t be able to backfill the gap, he said.
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“That's a massive portion of both the state budget and the state Medicaid program spending. So either way, it will have a broad effect on what we're able to deliver in terms of Medicaid services, but also the broader state budget,” he said.
Organizations that receive grants from the United States Department of Agriculture also received letters this week noting that their funds are being stopped. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last week that the department was “suspending federal financial awards to Minnesota and Minneapolis, effective immediately, until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped.”
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said there has been a lot of confusion as cancellation letters have started going out to the University of Minnesota, a poultry testing facility and other grant recipients. He said the state wants to work with the department but needs answers.
“I've, you know, my seven years, I've always been a good partner with USDA. USDA has always been a good partner to us,” Petersen said. “And to put, you know, this kind of uncertainty into our food safety, into our livestock safety, our workers, our people, you know, is concerning.”
