U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) this week helped introduce legislation to strengthen penalties for child care providers who commit fraud and to impose immigration consequences on non-U.S. citizen providers, making them inadmissible and subject to deportation.
The legislation, called the Stop Fraud by Strengthening Oversight and More Accountability for Lying and Illegal Activity (Stop Fraud by SOMALIA) Act, comes as federal prosecutors estimate massive theft through a network of fraudulent daycare centers and state-level programs in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal in which several child care centers in Minnesota owned or operated by Somali Americans were submitting false claims for public funding.
The bill would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act to impose strict penalties on child care providers who commit fraud, including:
- Mandatory permanent debarment from all federally funded child care assistance programs;
- Repayment of misspent funds;
- And required referral for federal criminal investigations.
The legislation would also require states to enforce these bans and prevent providers from evading debarment through restructuring or name change.
In a Thursday call with the press, Tuberville described the Minnesota scandal as "one of the biggest scandals in American taxpayer history.
"This is one of the biggest scandals in American taxpayer history, folks," Tuberville stated. "I mean, this is getting out of hand. And I want to say this: There's fraud all over this country. We're losing taxpayer money right and left because this ... federal government can't oversee enough of the money that's going out. $5 trillion? it's hard to oversee that, so we need state help."
He continued, "First of all, [Minnesota Governor] Tim Walz needs to be locked up. ... He knew this was going on. He lacks backbone; he was the leader of all this; he turned a blind eye. And the most liberal media covered for him and the Somalians in this whole thing."
Alabama's senior U.S. Senator went on to describe the recently discovered child care fraud as "an embarrassment to our whole country."
"I want to do my part to ensure something like this never happens again, which is why I helped introduce the Stop Fraud by SOMALIA Act."
"This is all an embarrassment. It should be an embarrassment to our whole country, and we should have to apologize to the American taxpayer for this. We're leaking oil fast. ... We have no clue what we're doing when it comes to oversight, and we've got to start paying attention to it."
U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Kennedy (R-La.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) all joined with Tuberville to introduce the legislation.
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