When concerns arise, those in charge have a responsibility to investigate claims of waste, fraud, and abuse — fully and without delay.
This is Rep. Paul Flynn of Albion with the Weekly Republican Address
Recent federal findings of fraud in Medicaid, SNAP, and other welfare programs raise serious questions about how taxpayer funds are being distributed in Maine.
Sadly, these findings reinforce what House Republicans have warned about for years: we need a non-biased, independent review of how your money is being managed.
House Republicans — and our colleagues in the Senate — will continue to push for transparency and accountability. Because it is your money. It comes from your hard work. It does not come from some magic “free money” tree.
We have repeatedly requested information from the administration and asked that it be made public. Most of those requests have been ignored.
However, enough information has leaked out to raise troubling questions, including:
- EBT payments sent to deceased individuals
- Housing resources diverted to non-citizens while homeless Mainers wait
- Non-citizens registering and voting
- Individuals without legal status involved in crimes and car accidents
- Bundles of blank ballots discovered in an Amazon package
- An unexplained spike in deaths of children in state custody
And just last spring, Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap released a report that found:
- Lack of internal controls exposing $2.1 billion in FY2024 contract spending to fraud, waste, and abuse
- A 100% failure rate for agencies following their own procurement rules
- Sole-source contracts without justification
- Contracts signed after work already began
- Procurements with no cost analysis
- Agencies splitting contracts to avoid competitive bidding requirements
- Failure to conduct vendor performance reviews
The Mills administration and majority Democrats in the Legislature have resisted calls to investigate the deficiencies identified by their own State Auditor.
Unfortunately, too many in Augusta seem to believe the public wants them to reflexively say “no” to any request from Republican legislators — or even from federal agencies — regardless of whether rejecting those requests harms the very people who rely on federal programs.
Just last fall, Maine’s partisan Attorney General instructed state agencies not to respond to inquiries from the U.S. Department of Justice.
This kind of polarization does nothing to help Maine people.
Mainers are tired of the political games. They want their government to do its job. They want assurance that tax dollars are solving problems — not creating new ones.
The Mills administration and legislative Democrats should cooperate with federal officials to ensure laws are being followed, waste is eliminated, and benefits reach the people these programs were designed to help.
Anything less shows disregard for how other people’s money is spent — or worse, suggests an effort to cover up fraud, waste, and abuse.
This has been Rep. Paul Flynn with the Weekly Republican Address.
Thank you for listening — and thank you for helping us change Maine for the better.
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And God bless you all.
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