During Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Trump announced that Vice President JD Vance will be leading a "whole of government" effort to clean up fraud, especially in blue states led by Democrats like Minnesota.
Then on Wednesday, the vice president and Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Dr. Mehmet Oz spoke at a press conference about that effort.
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VP Vance began by saying there will be a pause in federal payments to MN for Medicaid, as a wedge to pressure the state to take fraud seriously:
🚨 @VP: "We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money." pic.twitter.com/XD0JMA5p3w
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
He explained that "the providers on the ground in Minnesota have already been paid.[by the state]. What we are doing is we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government, until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that's being perpetrated against the American taxpayer."
The vice president didn't mince words, stating that Americans being taken advantage of in this way is over. "That is stopping today. We're taking a whole-of-government approach in the Trump administration to take this fraud seriously," he said:
.@VP: "Far too many people have gotten rich by taking what is best of the American spirit and getting rich off of it instead of providing services to kids who need it. That is stopping today." https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/LXJQzhrN0Z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
Dr. Oz gave another example of the types of fraud they're seeing, involving false claims for autistic children:
.@DrOzCMS details just a fraction of the fraud in Minnesota: One scheme involved criminals paying moms $1,000 to enroll their children — falsely — as autistic, then billed Medicaid millions of dollars for services that were never rendered. https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/7AKMGSKwPj
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
He shared that they have notified MN Governor Tim Walz (D) in a letter that they will only release the money "after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan" within the next 60 days:
.@DrOzCMS: "If Minnesota fails to clean up the systems, the state will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year. @GovTimWalz has 60 days to respond... We have more announcements of other states coming soon." https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/nw18bsv64z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
Failure to do so would cause "$1 billion in deferred payments" in 2026, he said, adding that "this is a problem with the leadership of Minnesota, and other states that do not take Medicaid preservation seriously."
Oz called it "the largest anti-fraud effort" that CMS has ever undertaken:
.@DrOzCMS: "I'm proud to announce the largest anti-fraud effort of its kind in CMS history... We're not going to let fraudsters steal it from you." https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/jtAOpFKEDf
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
Vance moved on to talk more about the "verified" fraud that has already been found that hurts children regarding autism:
.@VP on autism fraud schemes in Minnesota: "There are kids in Minnesota who deserve these services, who need these services, and they're not going to those kids — they're going to fraudsters in Minneapolis. That is unacceptable and that's the sort of thing we're cutting off." https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/D0zkZy2C9i
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
He expanded on how "offensive" it is that Americans are being ripped off by these fraudsters, and that the ultimate result, if it isn't corrected, is that the help for people who really need it won't be there eventually:
.@VP: "The problem is not going after the fraud, the problem is the fact that these programs are being defrauded to begin with. They WILL NOT EXIST. Our social safety net with disappear unless we take fraud more seriously." https://t.co/AjAoc9osmh pic.twitter.com/PpMASU5vYs
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
This is now on Gov. Walz's administration, and the clock is ticking. Stay tuned, readers.
You can watch the full press conference below:
Vice President Vance and Administrator Oz Announce Actions to Address Fraud, Waste, and Abuse https://t.co/CCUDvYXbQN
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) February 25, 2026
Editor's Note: With President Trump back in the White House, the state of our Union is strong once again.
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