Tom Emmer
04/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2026 15:22
Emmer, Minnesota Republican Delegation Urge Walz to Support Funding for Outdated IT Systems Used by Minnesota Counties
WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Emmer (MN-06), Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08), Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach (MN-07), and Congressman Brad Finstad (MN-01) sent a letter urging Governor Tim Walz to provide funding to update Minnesota's outdated systems for administering Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
"Just a few years ago, Minnesota had an $18 billion budget surplus. Instead of investing that surplus back into our communities, Walz wasted every penny of it on free healthcare, free driver's licenses, and free college for illegal aliens. Now, Minnesota is facing a deficit in the near future," said Congressman Emmer. "Walz has numerous options at his disposal to secure funding to update these ancient systems-whether through state funds or federal grants-but he would rather see our tax dollars go to illegal aliens and programs that are rife with fraud than to the counties that desperately need our support."
Background
The state of Minnesota delegates the responsibility of administering Medicaid and SNAP benefits to its counties and is one of approximately twelve states that do so. Currently, the systems used in Minnesota are decades old. For example, MAXIS, the system used for SNAP, was built in 1989.
There has been very little investment from the state to update the systems. There are multiple ways to acquire funding to update the systems, including state funding, federal matches, and federal grants. With the new requirements in the Working Families Tax Cut Act to cut out waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs, it is vital that counties are working on systems that are efficient and not prone to error.
There has been very little investment from the state to update the systems. There are multiple ways to acquire funding to update the systems, including state funding, federal matches, and federal grants. With the new requirements in the Working Families Tax Cut Act to cut out waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs, it is vital that counties are working on systems that are efficient and not prone to error.
The Working Families Tax Cut Act, which became law on July 4, 2025, included changes to both Medicaid and SNAP to root out fraud and strengthen the programs' integrity. Changes include work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP, Medicaid eligibility checks every six months, and penalizing states for high SNAP payment error rates.
You can read the letter sent to Governor Walz in its entirety here.
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Tom Emmer published this content on April 30, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 30, 2026 at 21:22 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]