House panel backs child care anti-fraud bill for federal assistance programs

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House backs child care anti-fraud bill

Highlights

House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced H.R. 7726 to strengthen auditing, data-sharing, and reporting in federal child care assistance programs.
The bill aims to bar individuals found committing fraud in one assistance program from accessing other federal programs to prevent recurring abuses.
Walberg cites Minnesota losses of an estimated $9 billion to child care assistance fraud and highlights the Feeding Our Future case, stressing national implications for costs and access.

Committee push for tighter oversight

As reported by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Walberg speaks on the House floor in support of H.R. 7726, a bill aimed at cracking down on fraud in federal child care assistance programs. He says the measure would strengthen auditing, expand data sharing and increase reporting requirements to detect and prevent abuse of taxpayer-funded benefits.

Walberg argues that fraud in assistance programs diverts money from children and working families while weakening public trust in the system. He says the legislation would also bar bad actors from moving between federal assistance programs to continue fraudulent activity.

In his prepared remarks, Walberg says the House committee passed the eight bills included in the package in March. He also thanks Representatives Mark Messmer, Glenn Grothman, Mark Alford Onder, Virginia Foxx, Joe Wilson, Michael Rulli, Burgess Owens and Mary Miller for work tied to the proposal.

Minnesota cases shape policy debate

Walberg points to Minnesota as a prominent example of oversight failures, citing fake businesses such as Quality Learning Center that claimed to serve children despite facilities allegedly sitting empty. He says an estimated $9 billion has been lost to fraud that could otherwise have supported child care services or helped families in need.

He also links the bill to broader concerns raised during the COVID-19 pandemic, when leaders of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future were accused of stealing more than $250 million in federal nutrition funds intended for children. Walberg says such cases show fraud is not confined to one state and that unchecked abuse raises costs, reduces access and undermines affordable, high-quality child care nationwide.

Our earlier article covered a $56.5 million settlement involving Matrix Medical Network, HealthFair and HealthFair founder Shahriah "James" Ekbatani over allegations of unsupported diagnosis codes that drove inflated Medicare Advantage risk-adjustment payments. The case highlighted how federal authorities are ramping up enforcement against waste, abuse and false claims in government-funded programs, with whistleblower actions playing a key role.

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