Minnesota Governor Tim Walz found himself under pressure on Capitol Hill this Wednesday when he struggled to address basic inquiries regarding his state’s autism funding and to define the term “woman.”

South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace immediately challenged Walz, questioning the dramatic increase in Minnesota’s autism spending, which surged from $1 million in 2017 to an expected $343 million in 2024.

Before delving into financial matters, Mace reignited a previous debate between them by asking, “What is a woman? Have you learned that lesson? Do you know what a woman is?”

Visibly unsettled, Walz responded, “I’m the governor of Minnesota, congresswoman. I’m not here to be your prop for your obsession!”

Mace remained firm, retorting, “If you can’t even define what a woman is, you can’t define fraud,” as she continued to press him on the rising expenses associated with autism in Minnesota, questions he consistently failed to address.

Mace persisted, inquiring, “How much money was spent on autism in Minnesota in 2017?”

‘I don’t have those numbers in front of me, Congresswoman,’ Walz responded. 

‘Did you prepare for this hearing today?’ Mace persisted. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz replied to Nancy Mace numerous times that he did not know the answers to basic questions she was asking

The South Carolina Representative grilled Walz during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday 

Walz did not provide Mace with an answer, and then did not reply to further questions she posed about the numbers Minnesota spent on providing for children with autism in 2017 versus 2024, the number of children in Minnesota, how many children in the state are on the autism spectrum, and what the per-pupil spending amounted to.

Walz – who last month abandoned his bid for re-election as governor amid the scandal – appeared before the House Oversight Committee alongside Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to face questions over billions of dollars in alleged fraud in the state’s Medicaid-funded social services programs.

The governor has been mired in a deepening scandal over scams involving state welfare, including payments to daycares and COVID-era loans. The majority of the defendants indicted so far come from the Somali community.

Prosecutors have said that at least 78 people connected with the Feeding Our Future programme defrauded the federal government of up to $300 million, falsely claiming reimbursement for meals served to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme in American history.

Instead, the defendants allegedly blew the stolen money on Lamborghinis, PorscheSUVs, beachfront property in Kenya and private villas in the Maldives. The vast majority of those convicted are Somali.

US Attorney Joe Thompson announced on December 18 that investigators had uncovered around $9 billion in federal Medicaid funds stolen from 14 Minnesota programs since 2018. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants – charged across child nutrition, housing services and autism program scams – are Somali.

It later emerged that Walz had connections with at least some of the refugees charged in the fraud. 

Walz, who served as Kamala Harris’s running mate in 2024, said in January that he would not seek another term as governor after concluding, following conversations with his family, that he could not give his all to a political campaign. 

His departure clears the path for Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Now in her fourth term, Klobuchar won re-election in 2024 with over 56 per cent of the vote — even as President Donald Trump drove record Republican turnout. 

Having just secured her seat, she faces minimal political risk in a gubernatorial run: even defeat would leave her in the Senate until 2030. 

Her electoral record offers further confidence – she took more than 60 per cent in 2018 and over 65 per cent in her first statewide run in 2012.