The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced Tuesday it is opening an investigation into the widespread fraud in Minnesota's social services programs.

Several federal departments have halted funding for Minnesota over the fraud scandal and the state government has been accused of allowing the schemes to infiltrate publicly funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, with alleged thieves stealing millions of taxpayer dollars.

The House investigation will be led by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie and GOP Reps. John Joyce of Pennsylvania and Morgan Griffith of Virginia.

“The extensive fraud schemes being perpetrated in Minnesota have wreaked havoc on government-funded health programs," the trio said in a statement. "We have an obligation to ensure finite taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly, and that the most vulnerable Americans are not being exploited to the benefit of fraudsters and foreign actors. 

"As members of Congress and this Committee, our track record has made our continued commitment to ridding government programs of waste, fraud, mismanagement, and abuse clear," they continued. "This letter is the next step in the Committee’s work to root out fraud and restore program integrity in our federal health programs nationwide.”

The investigation will focus on the Medicaid fraud in the state and asks Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to provide details on audits related to 14 social services programs that the state deemed to be prone to “high-risk provider types," by Jan. 30.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.