It was a blowout win for the Democrats across the country, and once again in Minnesota. One voice on the DFL side that was absent on election night is outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who decided last January to step out of the race and not seek a third consecutive term in office.
That decision cleared the path for Sen. Amy Klobuchar to enter the race on the Democrat's side, and ultimately win the race over Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
On Thursday, Walz did take some time to talk to reporters about the election, and also what comes next for him and the state. He says before leaving office in January, he wants to make sure that federal funding that stopped because of state fraud issues does get released. He says the state has met all of the requirement.
"Now, we're going to get a fair shake in this, where some of these people can go sit in front of Congress and answer why they're telling lies, why they're not giving the money to Minnesota when we've met every single requirement that no other state could meet in two years, we met in four months," claims Walz. "We're going to be able to show the numbers of what's been changed, what our algorithms are showing in terms of this."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have temporarily deferred or withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid and program payments to Minnesota pending compliance and documentation reviews. This includes a $199 million deferral across 14 high-risk service areas and broader federal freezes affecting over $350 million.
Walz said on Thursday that his priority is to leave behind strong program oversight, and a strong economy for the next administration and state legislature.
"You're going to see again we're AAA bond rated," he says. "We have historic rainy day funds and our economy is strong and resilient. So, I think more than anything, it's to make sure that this new administration and the new legislature is set up in a position to understand clearly where we stand, to continue to move forward on those things that we know have made a difference."
Klobuchar, speaking earlier this week, reiterated that her first priority is a "top-to-bottom" audit of state government after several years of significant fraud was found inside social programs run by both the state and federal government.
Walz added that he believes significant progress has been made to clean that up, but in a recent interview with the Star Tribune took the blame for not doing something about it sooner.
"I'm under no illusion that people won't continue to try and commit crimes, but the fact of the matter here is people stole it from Minnesotans, we caught them, we put them in jail, and we continue to do so," he said Thursday. "So, my priority is to hand off the strongest and most secure program integrity in the country."
"To make sure that this new administration and the new legislature is set up in a position to understand clearly where we stand"
"To make sure that this new administration and the new legislature is set up in a position to understand clearly where we stand"
