Why did House DFLers block the creation of an Inspector General office to fight fraud?

A no-brainer

In May, a bipartisan effort to establish a new state watchdog agency to crack down on fraud in public programs passed the state Senate with broad bipartisan support. It would have created a new independent agency charged with investigating state agencies and private organizations that receive taxpayer money.

The measure failed in the House. As WCCO reported:

Establishing an Office of Inspector General (OIG) is not part of the budget framework that will set the parameters of what the Legislature will pass in the looming special session, [former DFL House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman] explained, citing the $18 million cost over four years at a time when lawmakers are trying to stave off a $6 billion deficit in the future.

“It is dead,” Hortman said.

The House DFL did not agree with their colleagues in the Senate.

Last week, we learned about a new scandal surrounding a Medicaid program which provides housing assistance and another around 85 autism centers across the state. With our Scandal Tracker now up to $661.6 million for the period 2019 to 2025—or $110.3 million annually—begrudging the $4.5 million a year it would cost to run the OIG looks like a classic example of being penny wise and pound foolish.

“Minnesota has a fraud problem — and not a small one,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson said last week. “For too long, organized fraud schemes like this have flourished in plain sight, draining public resources dry…This state needs to confront the scale of its fraud problem — because ignoring it is no longer an option.”

Hopefully last session’s legislation will be brought back in the 2026 session and hopefully the House DFL will join their Senate colleagues this time in supporting it. Minnesotans, who hand over a large share of their incomes to the state government, deserve no less.