Senator Rasmusson Pushes Back on Walz Plan to Overhaul Minnesota DHS

Fergus Falls Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, the Republican lead on the Minnesota Senate Human Services Committee, dismissed Gov. Tim Walz's plan to overhaul the Department of Human Services as empty stagecraft, saying the governor "announced yet another attempt to paper over the state's fraud problem, despite its hyped-up promise to transform the Department of Human Services."

Walz held a news conference Tuesday announcing plans to restructure the DHS, updating its technology and streamlining Medicaid services into one centralized plan. The governor said the fraud at the center of the controversy took place in areas that are "more downstream," adding that "counties are telling us what the problems are" and that "getting the services to improve quality of life for Minnesotans is a priority."

Rasmusson, a sixth-generation Otter Tail County resident and Fergus Falls High School graduate who has served on the Senate Human Services Committee since his election in 2022, was direct in his assessment. "The Department of Human Services has not done the basics to protect taxpayers, hold employees accountable, or provide services to people who need them," he said. "With Governor Walz months away from leaving office, his administration is proposing new studies instead of focusing on accountability and action."

The senator catalogued specific institutional failures at DHS, saying the agency is "years behind performing site visits, decades behind on technology, and is barely able to meet legislative deadlines." He accused the administration of substituting announcements for results: "Governor Walz has had press conference after press conference announcing supposed reforms, but Minnesotans are still staring at this administration's failures to protect taxpayers and the Minnesotans who rely on these services."

Rasmusson's criticism lands against a deepening federal investigation. Homeland Security investigators went door-to-door at more than 30 suspected fraud sites in Minneapolis. FBI Director Kash Patel described recent fraud arrests as "just the tip of a very large iceberg," and federal prosecutors estimated that Minnesota's Medicaid fraud could total nine billion dollars. The Feeding our Future case has been characterized as the largest pandemic fraud case in the United States and likely the largest fraud case in Minnesota history.

Rasmusson, who previously called on the Minnesota Department of Education to explain why it voluntarily restarted payments to Feeding our Future fraudsters and why the Walz administration invoked a court ruling that Ramsey County District Court Judge John Guthmann said did not exist, warned that the accounting is far from finished. "From conversations with prosecutors they have a backlog of these cases that they are working through," he said. "So unfortunately Minnesotans are going to continue to hear stories about how their tax dollars went to criminals."

On the legislative front, Rasmusson said he would push when the session begins to establish an independent office of inspector general "to make sure there is a watchdog over these state agencies," and wants the Senate to regain authority to fire commissioners. He also said the state needs to stop writing blank checks.

Rasmusson joined other Republican lawmakers Monday in calling for Walz's resignation outright. "I don't think he should continue serving as Governor," he said. "This is the biggest failure of state government that I have witnessed in my lifetime." As of Thursday, Walz had not released a statement responding to the resignation calls.

Not everyone in the Capitol shares Rasmusson's urgency for structural action through executive pressure. DFL Senate Chair of the Human Services Committee John Hoffman said, "Major structural changes to a system that serves hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans require thoughtful collaboration between the executive branch and the legislature.