Over $120 million in USDA award payments to Minnesota suspended, Sec. Rollins says [View all]
Source: CBS News
Updated on: January 10, 2026 / 8:32 AM CST / CBS Minnesota
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Friday that she is suspending payments on all active and future awards from the USDA to Minnesota amid the long-running fraud scandal in which the White House has alleged a misuse of federal funds. In a letter addressed to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Rollins said the suspended payments, as of Friday evening, total just over $129 million.
As reasons for her suspension, she highlighted the alleged fraud schemes involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future, Minnesota's Housing Stabilization Services program, and claims of fraud at daycare centers around the state. "Despite a staggering, wide-reaching fraud scandal, your Administrations refuse to provide basic information or take common sense measures to stop fraud," Rollins said in the letter, which she posted on social media.
She asked Walz and Frey to provide her agency with justification for all federal spending to the state from Jan. 20 of last year "to the present" within 30 days, and said that payments moving forward will "require such payment justification."
In a reply to Rollins' post, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said on social media, "I will not allow you to take from Minnesotans in need. I'll see you in court."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/award-payments-usda-suspended-minnesota-secretary-brooke-rollins/
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