独家报道：明尼苏达州发生所谓“大规模欺诈”事件，暴露出联邦儿童保育资金系统在未核实儿童是否实际入托的情况下就向服务提供商支付费用。对此，三名共和党参议员正推动改革联邦儿童保育资金的分配方式。
得克萨斯州共和党参议员特德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz）联合犹他州共和党参议员迈克·李（Mike Lee）和佛罗里达州共和党参议员里克·斯科特（Rick Scott），将提出《支付完整性法案》（Payment Integrity Act）。该法案要求各州根据核实后的出勤情况，而非入学申请，来分配联邦资助的儿童保育资金。
“明尼苏达州的福利和儿童保育项目本应将资源用于保护弱势群体儿童，但却被犯罪分子当作‘自动取款机’随意挪用。”克鲁兹在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示。
“明尼苏达州的大规模欺诈事件表明，美国纳税人不能再依赖地方和州级政客来防止滥用职权，因为这些政客往往出于选举和党派利益而对这类行为视而不见。我的立法提案降低了我们已目睹的浪费和欺诈风险，并确保资源真正提供给需要的儿童和家庭。”
[沃尔兹的明尼苏达混乱或引发数十年来最严厉的欺诈改革]
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明尼苏达州优质学习中心（Quality Learning Center）是该州儿童保育欺诈丑闻的核心涉事机构。（Madelin Fuerste/Fox新闻频道）
该法案将推翻拜登政府2024年要求各州在核实出勤前支付儿童保育费用的规定。根据克鲁兹的提案，服务提供商只有在服务确认后才能获得支付，资金分配将从基于入学转为基于出勤。
克鲁兹的法案出台之际，这位直言不讳的得州议员上周刚主持了参议院司法委员会关于索马里欺诈者的听证会。在听证会上，立法者直接听取了记者大卫·霍赫（David Hoch）的证词，他曾陪同博主尼克·雪莉（Nick Shirley）前往一些声称是索马里日托中心的地点进行调查。
[众议院监督委员会扩大对明尼苏达州欺诈指控的调查]
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“没有什么犯罪比从弱势群体儿童那里偷窃更令人不齿。每一笔被盗资金都意味着一顿饭没吃、一次就医被耽误、一个未来被削弱。”克鲁兹补充道，此类欺诈“掠夺了我们孩子的潜力”。
在听证会上，克鲁兹指着明尼阿波利斯一家“优质学习中心”的照片，称该欺诈机构是这场危机的“典型代表”，他表示此类欺诈并非发生在“偏远或无法无天的地方，而是在美国中西部的心脏地带”。
共同提案人李表示，儿童保育支持理应“流向真正的孩子，而非空荡的房间”。
“虚假的儿童保育机构正在窃取本应真正照顾美国有需要儿童的资金。我们的法案将通过基于实际出勤而非报告的入学人数来拨款，并允许各州事后付款而非提前支付，以解决这一大规模欺诈问题。”李强调，这种“谨慎做法”本应早已成为法律。
[帕姆·邦迪派遣联邦检察官赴明尼苏达州调查索马里欺诈指控]
《支付完整性法案》还将健康与人类服务部2024年1月发布的基于出勤的收费程序纳入法律。
该部门副部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy）表示，这一规定也是受到明尼苏达州欺诈事件的推动。
“我们已经看到了大量关于日托中心欺诈的可信指控，这些机构根本没有照顾儿童。我们正在实施的改革将让欺诈行为更难得逞。”吉姆·奥尼尔（Jim O’Neill）在一份声明中说道。
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明尼苏达州总检察长基思·埃利森（Keith Ellison）于2026年2月12日星期四在华盛顿国会山的参议院听证会上。（Tom Brenner/美联社）
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《支付完整性法案》修订了老布什总统签署的《儿童保育与发展块补助法案》，将“基于出勤的收费”纳入其中。
法案明确规定：“本章节任何条款均不得被解释为要求牵头机构在提供儿童保育服务前就向儿童保育提供商支付费用。”这直接逆转了克鲁兹所称的允许欺诈滋生的预付款制度。
查尔斯·克里茨（Charles Creitz）是福克斯新闻数字频道记者，2013年加入福克斯新闻，担任撰稿人和制作助理。他主要报道媒体、政治和文化领域新闻，毕业于天普大学广播新闻专业，来自宾夕法尼亚州。新闻线索可发送至charles.creitz@fox.com。
EXCLUSIVE: A trio of Republican senators are moving to overhaul how federal childcare funds are distributed after what they call “mass fraud” in Minnesota exposed a system that paid providers before verifying children were ever in the room.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., is introducing the Payment Integrity Act, legislation that would require states to distribute federally funded childcare dollars based on verified attendance, not enrollment claims.
“Programs in Minnesota for welfare and childcare were designed to channel resources into protecting vulnerable children but were treated like an open ATM by criminals,” Cruz told Fox News Digital.
“The mass fraud in Minnesota shows that American taxpayers can no longer rely on local and state politicians to prevent abuses because those politicians often have electoral and partisan incentives to look the other way. My legislation reduces the risk of the waste and fraud we’ve seen and ensures that resources are provided to children and families who need it.”
[WALZ’S MINNESOTA MESS COULD SPARK THE TOUGHEST FRAUD REFORMS IN DECADES]
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Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state.(Madelin Fuerste/Fox News Channel)
The bill would reverse a 2024 Biden administration rule requiring states to pay childcare providers before attendance verification. Under Cruz’s proposal, providers would be paid only after services are confirmed, shifting from enrollment-based payments to attendance-based billing.
Cruz’s bill comes as the outspoken Texan led a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on alleged Somali fraudsters last week. There, lawmakers heard directly from David Hoch, a journalist who accompanied blogger Nick Shirley to sites claiming to be Somali daycare centers.
[HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE WIDENS INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGED MINNESOTA FRAUD]
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“There are few crimes more morally repugnant than stealing from vulnerable children. Every dollar stolen is a meal not eaten, a doctor’s visit missed and a future diminished,” Cruz said, adding that such fraud “plunders our children’s potential.”
Gesturing toward a photo of the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis during the hearing, an alleged fraudulent childcare provider Cruz called “emblematic” of the crisis, he said the fraud was occurring not in “some distant or lawless place, but in the heart of America’s Midwest.”
Co-sponsor Lee said support for childcare should “go to real kids, not empty rooms.”
“Fake childcare operations are stealing funding from the ones who are actually taking care of America’s children in need. Our bill will address this massive fraud by granting funding based on actual attendance rather than reported enrollment and allowing states to pay retroactively instead of in advance,” Lee said, adding such “diligence” should have been the law all along.
[PAM BONDI DISPATCHES FEDERAL PROSECUTORS TO MINNESOTA FOLLOWING SOMALI FRAUD ALLEGATIONS]
The Payment Integrity Act also puts into law the January rule from Health and Human Services that established attendance-based billing procedures.
That rule, according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s deputy, Jim O’Neill, was also spurred by what has been happening in Minnesota.
“We’ve seen credible and widespread allegations of fraudulent daycare providers who were not caring for children at all. The reforms we are enacting will make fraud harder to perpetrate,” O’Neill said in a statement.
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.(Tom Brenner/AP)
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The Payment Integrity Act amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, to include such “attendance-based billing.”
“Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require a lead agency to make a payment to a child care provider prior to the provision of child care services,” the bill states in a direct reversal of the prepayment system Cruz says allowed fraud to flourish.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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