Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called the scheme in Minnesota that defrauded organizations feeding hungry children “disgusting behavior,” becoming the latest progressive lawmaker to condemn the scandal.
“Fraud is disgusting, especially to steal money from hungry kids for a program to feed hungry kids,” Sanders said on the This Weekend with Theo Von podcast. “That is probably as bad as it gets.”
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Sanders was referring to the Feeding Our Future fraud in which individuals exploited $250 million from the federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been 78 defendants charged in connection with the scheme, with more than 60 either pleading guilty or being convicted at trial.
Sanders said the people involved in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme should be “severely punished.”
“I don’t care if you’re Somali, if you’re green, you’re blue, whatever you are,” Sanders said. “That should be punished. That is disgusting behavior.”
Nearly all of the defendants and convicted conspirators are from East Africa or of Somali descent.
While Sanders said he believes there was “massive fraud” in terms of child nutrients, he said the alleged child care scheme is “largely exaggerated.”
“I don’t think you can take a camera and go someplace, and the child care center is closed, and so ‘oh, nobody is there,’” Sanders said. “I don’t think that child care is an issue, but the nutrient issue is real.”
Sanders was referring to a video by independent content creator Nick Shirley, who visited child care centers in Minnesota to uncover alleged fraud. Shirley testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Podcast host Theo Von said the fraud in Minnesota makes people distrust the government managing their tax dollars.
Sanders admitted Von was right, but also pushed back, arguing that context matters
“You’ve got over 340 million people in this country, guess what, a lot of them are dishonest,” Sanders said. “Our politicians are dishonest, the business people are dishonest, the media people are dishonest; that is the reality.”
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Sanders said the solution is that the country needs to “revitalize.”
“There is fraud all over the place in this country, and we’ve got to try our best to eliminate that,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, we’ve got to revitalize our democracy, we’ve got to hold elected officials accountable, [and] got to run a cost-effective efficient government.”