Chapter 2 of 7 · 2020–2022

Unleashed

How a 2020 waiver law opened the door

Pandemic waivers took the guardrails off child nutrition. People from the child-care cases turned their centers into meal sites.

House Fraud Committee: charter school oversight and Feeding Our Future, April 21, 2026 · full record

Source: Minnesota House of Representatives (MNHouseInfo) · watch the original on YouTube. Played here unaltered except as noted on this page; rights remain with the publisher.

In one minute

  1. In 2020 the federal government waived the usual rules for child-nutrition programs: meals could be handed out off site, for-profit restaurants could take part, and off-site reviews replaced site visits. Legislative Auditor, June 13, 2024
  2. Feeding Our Future's child-care meal sites went from 116 in program year 2020 to 384 in 2021. Office of the Legislative Auditor, committee document Legislative Auditor, Exhibit 2.3
  3. Of the 323 meal sites Feeding Our Future sponsored, the committee found 69 that were also state-funded child-care centers. report p. 18
  4. Thirty-one of those child-care centers still had active licenses when the committee held its hearing. report p. 19
  5. Prosecutors call it the largest pandemic fraud in the country: about $250 million charged. United States v. Bock and others
“Feeding our Future created the template and business model for the large-scale fraud schemes that have plagued Minnesota since 2020.”
Committee majority report, p. 23

The 2020 law, and the connections the record documents

Each line below comes from a public record and names it. Nothing here says anyone knew of or took part in the fraud unless a court or prosecutor has said so.

  1. In March 2020 Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (363-40 in the House, 90-8 in the Senate; signed March 18, 2020). Its child-nutrition title included the MEALS Act, sponsored by Rep. Ilhan Omar, which let USDA grant waivers that increase federal costs while schools were closed. P.L. 116-127; H.R. 6187 (govinfo)
  2. The nationwide waiver authority USDA used came from the companion COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response Act in the same law (Rep. Bonamici's bill, with Rep. Comer as lead Republican). P.L. 116-127, Div. B, Title II
  3. Under those waivers USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to take part and allowed meals to be handed out off site, according to the U.S. Attorney. U.S. Attorney, Mar 19, 2025
  4. The Legislative Auditor found the waivers encouraged offsite reviews in place of site visits, and that the Department of Education's oversight of Feeding Our Future 'created opportunities for fraud'. OLA, June 13, 2024
  5. In September 2020 Rep. Omar welcomed the extension of the MEALS Act provisions: 'Because of the MEALS Act, we were able to provide school meals to millions of children across the country.' Rep. Omar release, Sept 26, 2020
  6. Safari Restaurant received more than $16 million as a Feeding Our Future site; its co-owners Abdulkadir Nur Salah (guilty plea) and Salim Said (convicted at trial) were found responsible. U.S. Attorney, Jan 28 and Mar 19, 2025
  7. Rep. Omar's campaign held its August 14, 2018 primary-night party at Safari Restaurant, and paid the restaurant $9,765.41 for catering and food between 2018 and 2020, according to FEC records. FEC disbursements, Ilhan for Congress
  8. In a May 3, 2020 campaign video she handed out meals at Safari. At trial the prosecutor told the court she 'didn't know what was going on'. KARE 11, Mar 17, 2025
  9. Two donors who later pleaded guilty in the case each gave her campaign $2,700 in early 2021; in February 2022 the campaign gave the $5,400 to food shelves. FEC receipts; Sahan Journal, Feb 15, 2022
  10. The government's exhibit list in U.S. v. Bock includes three 2021 email chains between Aimee Bock and a staff member in Rep. Omar's office about USDA food programs, and a Bock email headed 'Ilhan's Office'. Their contents are not public; none was shown at trial. U.S. v. Bock, Doc. 451; KSTP
  11. Guhaad Hashi Said pleaded guilty in the scheme in August 2025; news reports describe him as having worked with Rep. Omar's campaign, and the House committee's report calls him her former staffer. U.S. Attorney, Aug 12, 2025; FOX 9, May 6, 2026; committee report p. 26
  12. The House Fraud Committee asked Rep. Omar for her communications with Safari and the defendants; she did not respond, and a subpoena failed for lack of the required two-thirds vote. FOX 9, May 6, 2026; committee minutes
  13. Rep. Omar has not been charged or accused by prosecutors, and says 'Any claim that I had knowledge of this scheme is flat-out false.' The National News Desk, May 20, 2026

From the committee's own documents

OLA slide 'Failed to Act on Warning Signs' (Feeding Our Future, released June 13, 2024): monthly reimbursements in millions, August 2018-December 2021, with a callout 'April 2021: $32 million, 12 million meals and snacks'. A second slide gives headline figures: 6 times the number of CACFP sites of the average multisite sponsor (October 2019) and a 2,800% increase in reimbursements between FY2020 and FY2021.
OLA slide 'Failed to Act on Warning Signs' (Feeding Our Future, released June 13, 2024): monthly reimbursements in millions, August 2018-December 2021, with a callout 'April 2021: $32 million, 12 million meals and snacks'. A second slide gives headline figures: 6 times the number of CACFP sites of the average multisite sponsor (October 2019) and a 2,800% increase in reimbursements between FY2020 and FY2021.Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA), Special Reviews Division · House Fraud Committee hearing of 2026-04-21 · PM-6.4 MDE-FOF, House Fraud Comm, 4-21-26.pdf, p. 4
OLA Exhibit 2.3 'Between program year 2020 and program year 2021, Feeding Our Future more than tripled the number of CACFP sites under its sponsorship': Feeding Our Future CACFP sites 8 (2018), 73 (2019, +813%), 116 (2020), 384 (2021, +231%), 312 (2022), compared with an average of 10-19 sites per other multisite CACFP sponsor.
OLA Exhibit 2.3 'Between program year 2020 and program year 2021, Feeding Our Future more than tripled the number of CACFP sites under its sponsorship': Feeding Our Future CACFP sites 8 (2018), 73 (2019, +813%), 116 (2020), 384 (2021, +231%), 312 (2022), compared with an average of 10-19 sites per other multisite CACFP sponsor.Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) · House Fraud Committee hearing of 2025-04-28 · 2024-mdefof.pdf, p. 24
OLA Exhibit 1.3 'More sites and sponsors began participating in CACFP and SFSP around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic': SFSP sites, CACFP sites, SFSP sponsors and CACFP sponsors by program year 2018-2022 (0-3,000 scale). Sites lines rise from roughly 1,000 in 2018-2019 to about 2,000-2,500 by 2021-2022; SFSP sponsors rise from about 200 to about 650 while CACFP sponsors stay near 350. Points are not labelled with exact values.
OLA Exhibit 1.3 'More sites and sponsors began participating in CACFP and SFSP around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic': SFSP sites, CACFP sites, SFSP sponsors and CACFP sponsors by program year 2018-2022 (0-3,000 scale). Sites lines rise from roughly 1,000 in 2018-2019 to about 2,000-2,500 by 2021-2022; SFSP sponsors rise from about 200 to about 650 while CACFP sponsors stay near 350. Points are not labelled with exact values.Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) · House Fraud Committee hearing of 2025-04-28 · 2024-mdefof.pdf, p. 18

Go deeper

Report: Feeding Our FuturePages 22–33, searchable.

People

Aimee BockJohn H. GuthmannAbdi Osman Nur

The record for this chapter