Democrats proclaim Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse a hero for grilling Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over $220 million in ad contracts. The same day, in the same building, federal prosecutors told the House Oversight Committee that fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs may exceed $9 billion. Democrats on that committee asked zero questions about the fraud.
On March 4, Neguse read from a DHS justification document on the House floor and called the ad contracts fraud. He pressed Noem on Safe America Media, a Delaware company incorporated just eight days before winning the contract. That company received $143 million. A second firm, People Who Think, received $77 million.
DHS bypassed competitive bidding, citing the border emergency. No fraud charges have been filed.
Down the hall, the Oversight Committee heard testimony from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison about a fraud crisis that dwarfs Noem’s ad contracts by a factor of forty. The Feeding Our Future case alone produced 98 federal indictments for stealing child nutrition funds during COVID. Prosecutors put that scheme at $250 million. Federal prosecutors estimate total fraud across Minnesota’s social services programs at $9 billion.
The House Oversight Committee released a report the morning of the hearing based on nine transcribed interviews with state employees. It found that Walz and Ellison were aware of widespread fraud concerns as early as 2019, possessed legal authority to stop payments, and failed to act. Whistleblowers were ignored and auditors raised alarms. The state kept sending money out the door.
Spending on Minnesota’s autism programs was $24 million in 2019. By 2024, it reached $342 million. Integrated Community Supports was $4.6 million in 2021. It hit $170 million three years later.
Walz told lawmakers he was not specifically aware of those numbers.
When it was their turn to ask questions, Democrats on the Oversight Committee spent their time on Operation Metro Surge and immigration enforcement. Not one asked about the fraud.
The committee conducted nine transcribed interviews with state officials. Republican staff logged over 36 hours of fraud-related questioning across those sessions. Democratic staff asked a fraction of that.
The Noem contracts deserve scrutiny, and they got it. The $220 million is on USAspending.gov and the justification for bypassing competitive bidding was filed publicly under federal law. Noem testified under oath in both chambers over two days. The federal procurement system did what it was designed to do — it made the spending visible, and Congress asked questions within months.
The Minnesota fraud is the opposite. Payments flowed for years after warnings, and the first federal charges did not come until 2022. Congress held its first hearing in January 2026. The second, with Walz and Ellison, happened the same week Democrats were celebrating Neguse’s performance on the ad contracts.
Congressional oversight that zeroes in on $220 million in traceable contracts while looking the other way on $9 billion in documented fraud is not protecting taxpayers. It is selecting which taxpayers to protect.
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