Press Releases

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) sent today a second letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz after the state failed to adequately respond to the Committee’s initial January 5, 2026, oversight request regarding misuse of federal funds authorized in the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act program.
 
The follow-up letter details significant deficiencies in Minnesota’s document production, including thousands of duplicative pages, and reiterates the Committee’s requests with greater specificity after the state’s incomplete submissions. 
 
In the letter, Chairman Walberg writes: “[The state’s] failure to fully respond to the Committee’s requests is both unacceptable and impeding the Committee’s oversight and legislative efforts.”
 
The letter continues: “In addition to being outside the scope of the Committee’s requests, and thus nonresponsive, the same press release was provided to the Committee at least 66 times, resulting in over 6,000 pages of duplicates. … Despite the Committee’s request, Minnesota produced over 34,750 pages of information otherwise publicly available. This constitutes over 90 percent of the documents.”
 
The letter concludes by requesting all emails from 2019–2026 in which specific child care centers are discussed by Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, and two senior staff members; unredacted versions of previously submitted documents; and records identifying child care providers that received more than $1 million in federal child care funds during that period.
 
Background:
 
The investigation, launched earlier this year, is examining alleged improper payments and misuse of federal child care funds authorized under CCDBG. The Committee’s findings will help inform legislative efforts to strengthen oversight, prevent fraud, and ensure accountability in federally funded child care programs.