Newt Gingrich cites $223 billion fraud estimate, urges action
newt gingrich and Rachel Peterson said Washington must act to stop massive government fraud after citing Minnesota, Colorado and federal internet subsidy cases as evidence of a broader problem. They argued the federal fraud crackdown should move from recovering stolen funds to preventing losses before payments go out.
Their case leaned on the Government Accountability Office estimate that the federal government loses between $223 billion and $521 billion a year to fraud based on fiscal years 2018 to 2022 data. They also pointed to Treasury Department action in 2024, when the department prevented and recovered more than $4 billion in fraud and improper payments.
Trump fraud task force
In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing a task force to eliminate fraud, and the task force will be chaired by Vice President JD Vance. Gingrich and Peterson wrote that Vance will direct agencies to identify vulnerabilities in their systems to help prevent fraud before it occurs.
They called that effort vital and wrote, “This is vitally important.” They also said, “It’s crucial to shift the focus from recovering stolen funds to preventing fraud altogether.”
Minnesota Feeding Our Future
The Minnesota example at the center of their argument involved Feeding Our Future, which falsely claimed to serve 125 million meals to children. The group also submitted a fake attendance roster listing 2,040 children, and only 20 matched district school attendance records.
The Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor’s June 2024 review found that the Department of Education ignored at least 30 complaints about Feeding Our Future and failed to verify the group’s statements before approving funds. Gingrich and Peterson described the federal investigation into the Minnesota fraud as the tip of the iceberg.
Colorado and FCC reports
Their warning extended beyond Minnesota. A February 2025 Department of Health and Human Services audit found that Colorado’s Medicaid program made at least $7.3 million in payments on behalf of deceased enrollees.
A January 2026 FCC Office of Inspector General report found that between 2020 and 2025, $5 million in federal funds for subsidized internet for the poor were sent to nearly 117,000 people who were dead. The report said many of those people were enrolled and claimed benefits after their deaths in multiple states within the same month.
For readers who rely on state and federal benefit systems, the practical issue is whether controls stop payments before they leave the bank. Gingrich and Peterson said, “First, we need to implement checks before the money leaves the bank,” a standard they urged Washington to adopt across programs tied to education, health care and internet aid.
The next step is the task force’s work under Vance, which Gingrich and Peterson cast as a test of whether agencies can spot weak points early enough to prevent repeat losses.
