Overview
- The GOP-led Minnesota House fraud panel, which met Tuesday, said Rep. Ilhan Omar declined to appear for questioning about her role in pandemic meal programs.
- Following that hearing, Chair Kristin Robbins sent a formal request for Omar’s emails, texts, and meeting records related to child-nutrition programs and set a deadline for a written response.
- At issue is Omar’s 2020 MEALS Act, which let non-school distributors claim federal meal reimbursements, a flexibility critics argue reduced oversight.
- Lawmakers played a 2020 Somali-language clip of Omar praising Safari Restaurant as a meal site, a business prosecutors later tied to major fraud activity.
- Federal prosecutors say the Feeding Our Future network stole more than $250 million from a taxpayer-funded child-nutrition program during the pandemic, and criminal cases remain active.