After years of fraud concerns in MN state programs, there has been a recent spotlight on a lot of what has been going on behind the scenes. Federal investigators are now looking into two major issues that raise serious concerns about oversight in Minnesota. First, the U.S. Department of Transportation found that roughly one third of the non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses issued in our state were issued illegally, which has led to a threat of withholding more than 30 million dollars in federal highway funding unless Minnesota corrects the problem. Second, federal agencies are reviewing allegations that taxpayer dollars from certain state programs were funneled through fraudulent networks and may have ended up supporting foreign terrorist organizations. These investigations point to a clear pattern. Oversight inside state government has not kept up with the level of risk, and too much fraud is being caught after the damage is already done. It's clear to see the pattern of fraud under Walz's watch, which is why an Independent Office of the Inspector General would provide real value by monitoring high-risk programs in real time, shutting down fraud before more taxpayer money is lost, and restoring the accountability Minnesotans expect.