One of the biggest legal and political battles in Washington, D.C., today concerns whether the president must spend money that Congress has appropriated. Russ Vought, head of President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, claims that congressional appropriation laws provide a spending ceiling, which the executive can undershoot if he cannot find a good use for the money. Trump foes say that he must spend all appropriated funds, and they have even sued to try to force money out the door.

While Congress holds ultimate power of the purse, and some types of spending are mandatory, the president has the discretion to decide when certain appropriations are not needed. Every president has used this authority. Lawmakers can and should give the executive more explicit power to withhold funds when he can accomplish a congressional goal more cheaply.

The Constitution is typically laconic on spending powers. It says: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” The Founders worried more about a president spending money without congressional say-so than one withholding largesse. Everyone understood the logic when, in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson refused to spend $50,000 appropriated to provide gunboats for the Mississippi, since the Louisiana Purchase made them unnecessary.

The Supreme Court has acknowledged the president’s “traditional authority to decline to spend appropriated funds.” In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt wrote that “the mere fact that Congress, by the appropriation process, has made available specified sums for the various programs and functions of the Government is not a mandate that such funds must be fully expended. Such a premise would take from the Chief Executive every incentive for good management and the practice of commonsense economy.”

In 1974, however, after President Richard Nixon took aggressive action to limit spending, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act, which required the president to seek congressional approval to withhold funds. Congress still grasped that circumstances sometimes make spending the money impossible. Under the law, the president is allowed a “programmatic delay” in dispensing the money if viable projects are not available or the spending would be wasted. If the delay goes on past the time Congress provided, the appropriations get canceled and returned to the Treasury.

Advocates of forced spending underestimate how often the government, for sensible reasons, does not or cannot spend the available funds. By one estimate, almost $25 billion in appropriated funds—about 1.5 percent of the discretionary budget—get returned to the Treasury yearly. The Government Accountability Office estimated that the Pentagon alone returned more than $80 billion to the Treasury over six years because it could not find good uses for the money within the projects that Congress designated.

The president often struggles to spend funds in a timely manner, even when Congress gives him years to do so. Typically, more than $1 trillion in unused funds carry over into the next fiscal year. The Biden administration famously had trouble spending money on its big programs. It received tens of billions of dollars from Congress to connect rural communities to the Internet, but it had not made a single web connection by the time Biden left office.

Congressional appropriation acts seem to offer the president significant spending discretion. The typical language in an appropriation act says that, to use an example from last year, “$1,750,000 shall be available until September 30, 2025, for expenses necessary in carrying out related responsibilities of the Secretary of Interior.” The money is made “available”—not required.

There are real costs to federal agencies spending money just to meet congressional deadlines. One of the worst-kept secrets in Washington is the “use-it-or-lose-it” mentality that afflicts agencies in September, the last month of the fiscal year, after which most appropriations get canceled. Spending on contracts in the last week of September is about five times higher than in other weeks of the year. Research shows that contracts from that period tend to perform worse than others.

Despite critics’ grumbling about Trump’s use of executive power to limit spending, Democrats were unconcerned when Biden used executive power to increase spending—vastly. By one measure, President Biden through his executive actions added up to $1.4 trillion to the deficit. He issued a rule expanding Medicaid spending by $135 billion and other rules expanding food-stamp spending by almost $200 billion. The Trump limitations on spending, by contrast, have generally saved a few billion dollars.

Whether all, or just some, of Trump’s spending decisions are lawful under the Impoundment Control Act and whether the act itself is unconstitutional remain open questions for the courts to decide. But both parties and the press should acknowledge that the current situation—in which attempts to boost spending by executive action get green-lighted, while efforts to reduce spending get lawsuits and injunctions—is the opposite of what the Founders intended. The purpose of public spending is not merely to reward friends and allies but to accomplish objectives for the American people. If a president can achieve a congressional goal by spending less money, he should do so—and Congress should allow and celebrate that action.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

• CDC Webpage Revision: The CDC updated its webpage to state that vaccines might cause autism, changing from previous assertions of no link.
• Confirmation Process Context: During Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Senate confirmation, he assured Sen. Bill Cassidy that statements denying a vaccine-autism link would remain on the CDC site.
• New Webpage Language: The revised text claims that "vaccines do not cause autism" lacks evidence, as studies have not eliminated the possibility, and notes ignored studies supporting a link.
• HHS Assessment Initiative: The Department of Health and Human Services started a comprehensive review to investigate autism causes.
• Previous CDC Statements: Earlier webpage content referenced a 2012 National Academy of Medicine review and a 2013 CDC study showing no vaccine-autism connection.
• Data Quality Act Reference: The new page indicates prior CDC assurances violated the Data Quality Act and points to aluminum adjuvants as a potential factor in rising autism cases.
• Scientific Counterpoints: Over 25 peer-reviewed articles find no link between vaccines, including MMR, and autism; a recent Danish study of 1.2 million children showed no association with aluminum.
• Ongoing Tensions: Sen. Cassidy and Kennedy have clashed over vaccine policies, including changes to advisory panels and access restrictions, with the webpage header retained under an agreement.

---

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/cdc-changes-webpage-to-say-vaccines-may-cause-autism-revising-prior-language-061e2dc2

CDC Changes Webpage to Say Vaccines May Cause Autism, Revising Prior Language

The text on vaccines had been a focal point for concerns about RFK Jr.’s views

By

Liz Essley Whyte

and

Sabrina Siddiqui

Nov. 19, 2025 11:49 pm ET

---

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that previously made the case that vaccines don’t cause autism now says they might.

The contents of the webpage came up during Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation process. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) in February said Kennedy had assured him that, if he was confirmed, the CDC would “not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”

The revised webpage says: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”

The new text posted Wednesday also notes that the Department of Health and Human Services has launched “a comprehensive assessment” to probe the causes of autism. 

The webpage had been a focal point for both vaccine skeptics, who criticized its earlier language, and public health advocates, who wondered how far Kennedy would go to change federal agencies’ language around vaccines. 

The page previously said: “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism,” citing a 2012 National Academy of Medicine review of scientific papers and a 2013 CDC study. 

The new webpage says the CDC’s previous assurances on vaccines and autism violated the Data Quality Act. It suggests aluminum adjuvants could be behind the rise in autism cases. “Though the cause of autism is likely to be multi-factorial, the scientific foundation to rule out one potential contributor entirely has not been established,” the new page reads.

Kennedy in September suggested pregnant women taking Tylenol could also have fueled the increase in autism. He previously said pesticides, mold or environmental toxins could also be to blame.

Cassidy declined to comment. 

He and Kennedy have increasingly sparred in recent months, as Cassidy has accused the health secretary of backpedaling on his vow to protect vaccine access. At a contentious Senate hearing in September, Cassidy criticized Kennedy for unwinding mRNA vaccine programs, replacing a key CDC advisory panel with vaccine skeptics, limiting access to Covid-19 vaccines, and firing former CDC Director Susan Monarez when she disagreed with his approach to vaccines.

Scientists have said that while it is impossible to prove “never” conclusively, no association has been proven between vaccines and autism. More than 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles have shown no link between autism and the MMR vaccine—a longtime focus of vaccine skeptics due to a 1998 study suggesting there was a link, which was later retracted. A Danish study of more than 1.2 million children published earlier this year found no link between aluminum in vaccines and neurodevelopmental harm, including autism.

“It is absolutely definitive. There is no link between autism and vaccines. Zero. None,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and population health at Stanford Medicine.  

The bottom of the CDC webpage now says that the header “Vaccines do not cause autism” remains on the site with an asterisk because of “an agreement” with Cassidy.

“We are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said.

Write to Liz Essley Whyte at liz.whyte@wsj.com and Sabrina Siddiqui at sabrina.siddiqui@wsj.com

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

---

Videos

Advertisement

---

Further Reading

[

How Autism Cases Rose as Diagnosis Morphed Over Time

](https://archive.is/o/3JfDl/https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/autism-diagnosis-history-changes-charts-c9db7075)

October 14, 2025

[

Does Tylenol Cause Autism? Here’s How We Could Find Out

](https://archive.is/o/3JfDl/https://www.wsj.com/health/does-tylenol-cause-autism-heres-how-we-could-find-out-2f3ee870)

October 3, 2025

[

Trump Is Betting That Stance on Children’s Health Will Play Well With MAGA Base

](https://archive.is/o/3JfDl/https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-stance-vaccines-autism-tylenol-maga-c2b792eb)

September 27, 2025

[

A Closer Look at the Drug Trump Is Touting for Autism

](https://archive.is/o/3JfDl/https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/autism-leucovorin-science-research-0a666a8d)

September 24, 2025

[

In Targeting Common Painkiller, Trump Oversteps His Own Advisers’ Guidance on Autism

](https://archive.is/o/3JfDl/https://www.wsj.com/politics/in-targeting-a-common-painkiller-trump-oversteps-his-own-advisers-guidance-on-autism-571e9eae)

September 23, 2025

Advertisement

• Test Flight Location: Small airplane in Griffith, Australia carries Q-CTRL quantum magnetometer for navigation test.
• Device Function: Lasers shine on rubidium atoms to measure Earth's magnetic field variations in real time.
• Navigation Method: Live readings compared to preloaded magnetic-field map to determine position without GPS.
• GPS Threats: Russia jams signals in Ukraine; China, North Korea have similar capabilities affecting military and civilian aviation.
• Pentagon Involvement: Defense agency funds Q-CTRL and Safran to improve quantum sensor robustness against vibrations and interference.
• Test Performance: Wingtip sensor achieves 620-foot accuracy over 80 miles, outperforming inertial system by over 10 times.
• Additional Tech: Q-CTRL develops gravity sensor; software removes aircraft interference from readings.
• Challenges Noted: Requires detailed maps, cost reduction for drones, and survival in extreme military conditions like rocket launches.

---

Reporting and photography by

Mike Cherney

14

---

Q-CTRL engineers prepare for a test flight of a device that could reduce reliance on GPS.

GRIFFITH, Australia—At a tiny airport in the Australian countryside last month, a small plane took off carrying a device that could transform how U.S. drones, aircraft and ships navigate across future battlefields.

The flight carried an instrument that shines lasers at atoms, which behave like compass needles to measure Earth’s magnetic field in real time. Readings from the device can be compared to a magnetic-field map, helping a user determine their location—and offering a backup to satellite-based navigation like GPS.

For the U.S. and its allies, finding new ways to navigate is crucial. In the Ukraine war, Russia is jamming and spoofing—blocking and faking signals—so frequently that satellite navigation isn’t dependable. Other potential adversaries, including China and North Korea, possess similar capabilities.

GPS spoofing by militaries has become a civilian hazard as well, presenting a risk to commercial aircraft.

“This problem hasn’t been as urgent until right now, when we are seeing the end of reliable GPS,” said Russell Anderson, a principal scientist at Q-CTRL, the Australian startup that ran the test flight. “It is the arms race of the current day, in terms of navigation.”

Scientists around the world are exploring whether harnessing the quantum properties of atoms can help navigate accurately in so-called contested environments. But it is still unclear whether the devices, which work well in labs and field tests, would perform reliably on actual military missions.

Satellite-Free Navigation

Earth's magnetic field has tiny variations from place to place. By comparing live readings to a detailed onboard magnetic-field map, an aircraft can determine its location without GPS.

Preloaded map

Position fixed

Magnetic field

Magnetic field

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, interference from the aircraft itself must be removed. Software does this in real time.

Software

activated

True signal

revealed

Magnetic

interference

Magnetic readings depend on a sensor head about the size of a finger that uses lasers and rubidium atoms.

2

A pump laser aligns the needles

A glass cell is filled with atoms that behave like tiny compass needles, which are sensitive to magnetic fields

1

Detector

3

A probe laser measures how the atoms change

The measurements are used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field

4

Atom

Earth's magnetic field has tiny variations from place to place. By comparing live readings to a detailed onboard magnetic-field map, an aircraft can determine its location without GPS.

Preloaded map

Position fixed

Magnetic field

Magnetic field

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, interference from the aircraft itself must be removed. Software does this in real time.

Software

activated

True signal

revealed

Magnetic

interference

Magnetic readings depend on a sensor head about the size of a finger that uses lasers and rubidium atoms.

A pump laser aligns the needles

2

A glass cell is filled with atoms that behave like tiny compass needles, which are sensitive to magnetic fields

1

Detector

3

A probe laser measures how the atoms change

The measurements are used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field

4

Atom

Earth's magnetic field has tiny variations from place to place. By comparing live readings to a detailed onboard magnetic-field map, an aircraft can determine its location without GPS.

Preloaded map

Position fixed

Magnetic field

Magnetic field

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, interference from the aircraft itself must be removed. Software does this in real time.

Software

activated

True signal

revealed

Magnetic

interference

Magnetic readings depend on a sensor head about the size of a finger that uses lasers and rubidium atoms.

A pump laser aligns the needles

2

A glass cell is filled with atoms that behave like tiny compass needles, which are sensitive to magnetic fields

1

Detector

3

A probe laser measures how the atoms change

The measurements are used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field

4

Atom

Earth's magnetic field has tiny variations from place to place. By comparing live readings to a detailed onboard magnetic-field map, an aircraft can determine its location without GPS.

Preloaded

map

Position fixed

Magnetic

field

Magnetic

field

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, interference from the aircraft itself must be removed. Software does this in real time.

True signal

revealed

Software

activated

Magnetic

interference

Magnetic readings depend on a sensor head about the size of a finger that uses lasers and rubidium atoms.

A probe laser measures how the atoms change

3

A glass cell is filled with atoms that behave like tiny compass needles, which are sensitive to magnetic fields

1

2

A pump laser aligns the needles

Atom

Detector

The measurements are used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field

4

Earth's magnetic field has tiny variations from place to place. By comparing live readings to a detailed onboard magnetic-field map, an aircraft can determine its location without GPS.

Preloaded

map

Position fixed

Magnetic

field

Magnetic

field

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, interference from the aircraft itself must be removed. Software does this in real time.

True signal

revealed

Software

activated

Magnetic

interference

Magnetic readings depend on a sensor head about the size of a finger that uses lasers and rubidium atoms.

A probe laser measures how the atoms change

3

A glass cell is filled with atoms that behave like tiny compass needles, which are sensitive to magnetic fields

1

2

A pump laser aligns the needles

Atom

Detector

The measurements are used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field

4

Notes: Diagram is schematic. Laser orientations can vary.
Sources: Q-CTRL, Berkeley National Laboratory
Roque Ruiz/WSJ

The Pentagon is hoping to solve that problem. In August, the research and development agency at the Defense Department launched a program to help make quantum sensors more robust.

The agency said the extraordinary sensitivity of the devices makes them fragile in real-world environments, where vibrations or electromagnetic interference can degrade performance. Australia-based Q-CTRL was selected to participate; another company, Safran Federal Systems in Rochester, N.Y., also said it was awarded a contract.

The work is taking on increasing urgency. Russia and China have advanced their electronic-warfare capabilities. European officials have accused Russia of widespread jamming of aircraft.

The problem with GPS is the signals are typically weak, making them easy to block. The U.S. has been rolling out a new, more powerful GPS signal for the military called M-code that is more resilient to jamming, but there has been a holdup in getting funding for the receivers needed to use it, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on defense strategy and space policy.

“The U.S. military now realizes future battlefields will be fully contested in the electromagnetic domain unlike anything we have seen before,” he said.

Quantum devices, potentially working together, could tip the balance, proponents say. Quantum clocks, for example, could boost the precision and accuracy of timekeeping. Another quantum sensor, also being developed by Q-CTRL, can navigate by detecting small changes in gravity.

“Quantum sensing is a priority,” said Tanya Monro, the chief scientist for Australia’s Department of Defence, which hosted a trial of the Q-CTRL gravity sensor on one of its ships. “There is an absolute, driving need to be able to operate with complete denial of GPS.”

The Q-CTRL device on the plane in Griffith, a city of about 27,000, is called an optically pumped magnetometer. It shoots lasers at atoms of rubidium, a soft, silvery-white metal, that are held in a gaseous form in a small glass vial. The lasers help measure changes in the atoms’ internal compass needle, which is used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field.

Q-CTRL’s software then removes interference from outside sources, such as the aircraft itself, producing an accurate measurement of the Earth’s magnetic field in that location, which can be compared to a magnetic map. Such maps show deviations from the average field strength over the surface of the Earth.

Michael J. Biercuk at his lab in Sydney.

“You can go out in the woods, and with a map and your eyes identify, ‘Well, there’s a hill and there’s a valley and there’s a stream, so I think I’m right here on the map,’” said Michael J. Biercuk, the American quantum physicist who founded Q-CTRL. “You can do exactly the same thing with these magnetic signals.”

Biercuk said there is no realistic way to jam quantum magnetometers or gravimeters from a distance, short of an energy pulse that would fry all the electronics on a plane and cause it to crash. He said Q-CTRL has subjected the sensors to shaking and dynamic maneuvers with good results—including more than 140 hours of continuous operation on the Australian ship.

In Griffith, Q-CTRL engineers tested three magnetometers in different locations on the airplane, given that the external interference in each spot is different.

The units were tested against a high-end inertial navigation system—which estimates position by using gyroscopes and accelerometers. These systems are already used as GPS backups and on submarines, which can’t access GPS when underwater. But inaccuracies build up over long distances.

All three locations performed comparably, Biercuk said. Over an 80-mile test window, a sensor on the tip of the plane’s wing resulted in an average position estimate within about 620 feet of the true position, and the margin of error didn’t increase with the duration of the flight, he said. The performance was more than 10 times better than the inertial navigation system.

GPS is still very precise, when it’s available. GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within 16 feet under open sky, according to one study.

A flight navigation map.

One of the sensors was placed at the tip of the plane’s wing for the test flight.

There are challenges with the magnetometer approach. One is the need to have detailed magnetic maps, which may not always be available or up-to-date. Another is to make the device inexpensive enough for cheap drones like those that have transformed military strategy in Ukraine.

“Quantum offers a lot of potential,” said Allison Kealy, a professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, who specializes in positioning and navigation. She noted, though, that “I think they’re like any other sensor. They have their strengths and weaknesses.”

Others are exploring different techniques. Advanced Navigation, a company in Australia that makes inertial navigation systems, is preparing to launch a sensor that measures an aircraft’s velocity in three dimensions by shooting lasers at the ground. That works in tandem with inertial navigation systems to improve accuracy over longer distances.

“No one solution fits all problems,” said Max Doemling, chief product officer at Advanced Navigation, which has collaborated with Q-CTRL in the past. Doemling said his company would be interested in using quantum sensors when the technology is ready.

Yuval Cohen inspects the wingtip unit.

In Griffith, not everything went smoothly at Q-CTRL’s flight tests. At one point, there was a communication issue involving the wingtip sensor, and it was swapped out for a different unit.

More work is ahead, some of the Q-CTRL scientists said, to show the sensors can handle different scenarios that a military platform might face.

“Can it survive a rocket launch? Can it survive a crash landing?” said Yuval Cohen, a Q-CTRL researcher. “You don’t really know, until you do the testing.”

Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the November 20, 2025, print edition as 'Militaries Try Out Alternatives to GPS'.

---

What to Read Next

[

Now Tech Moguls Want to Build Data Centers in Outer Space

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/now-tech-moguls-want-to-build-data-centers-in-outer-space-a8d08b4b?mod=WTRN_pos1)

[

Energy constraints in the artificial-intelligence race are causing tech companies to think out of this world.

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/now-tech-moguls-want-to-build-data-centers-in-outer-space-a8d08b4b?mod=WTRN_pos1)

Continue To Article

---

[

Data Centers Get Upgraded for the AI Era

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/data-centers-get-upgraded-for-the-ai-era-f369af63?mod=WTRN_pos2)

[

Plus, AI-assisted hackers, genetically engineered babies and perimenopause apps, in this edition of The Future of Everything newsletter.

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/data-centers-get-upgraded-for-the-ai-era-f369af63?mod=WTRN_pos2)

Continue To Article

---

[

How American and Chinese Drone Arsenals Stack Up

](https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/china-america-military-drones-compared-7c56be7a?mod=WTRN_pos4)

[

A head-to-head comparison of unmanned aircraft shows the global rivals in a close race.

](https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/china-america-military-drones-compared-7c56be7a?mod=WTRN_pos4)

Continue To Article

---

EXCLUSIVE

[

How a Chinese AI Company Worked Around U.S. Rules to Access Nvidia’s Top Chips

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-ai-nvidia-chip-access-6a4fa63d?mod=WTRN_pos5)

[

In Indonesia, semiconductors covered by U.S. export controls are ready to help a Shanghai-based group.

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-ai-nvidia-chip-access-6a4fa63d?mod=WTRN_pos5)

Continue To Article

---

[

‘The American Edge’ Review: An Alarm for the Arsenal

](https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-american-edge-review-an-alarm-for-the-arsenal-06a6141b?mod=WTRN_pos6)

[

The Soviet Union forced the U.S. to rethink its approach to war production. China presents a similar challenge to the Pentagon today.

](https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-american-edge-review-an-alarm-for-the-arsenal-06a6141b?mod=WTRN_pos6)

Continue To Article

---

[

Larry Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board After Epstein Revelations

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/larry-summers-resigns-openai-boad-jeffrey-epstein-2ff4743e?mod=WTRN_pos7)

[

Harvard University also launched a new review of its former president after he received criticism for his correspondence with the sex offender.

](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/larry-summers-resigns-openai-boad-jeffrey-epstein-2ff4743e?mod=WTRN_pos7)

Continue To Article

---

[

The number of 401(k) millionaires just hit a record high: ‘People are staying the course.’

](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-number-of-401-k-millionaires-just-hit-a-record-high-people-are-staying-the-course-339b6b08?mod=WTRN_pos8)

[

Women hit a new investment milestone but still trail men in some metrics, Fidelity said.

](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-number-of-401-k-millionaires-just-hit-a-record-high-people-are-staying-the-course-339b6b08?mod=WTRN_pos8)

Continue To Article

---

[

Silicon Valley Estate Sells for $56 Million

](https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/silicon-valley-estate-sells-for-56-million-fc82d8a7?mod=WTRN_pos9)

[

Sold by Bandel Carano of Oak Investments Partners, the Italian-style home in Portola Valley set a record for the town.

](https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/silicon-valley-estate-sells-for-56-million-fc82d8a7?mod=WTRN_pos9)

Continue To Article

---

---

Videos

• Minnesota Welfare Fraud Scale: Billions in taxpayer dollars stolen during Governor Tim Walz's administration through various fraudulent schemes in welfare programs.
• HSS Program Fraud: Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program costs escalated from $2.6 million estimate to $104 million annually, with vast majority fraudulent; 77 providers terminated for fraud allegations.
• HSS Indictments: Eight defendants charged, six from Somali community, involving fictitious companies and schemes stacked on other Medicaid programs.
• Feeding Our Future Scheme: $250 million fraud by nonprofit sponsored by Somali community members using fake meal counts during COVID-19; 56th defendant pleaded guilty.
• Autism Services Fraud: $14 million scheme led by Asha Farhan Hassan, also charged in Feeding Our Future, involving fake diagnoses and cash kickbacks to parents in Somali community.
• Somali Community Involvement: Multiple fraud rings, including at least 28 scandals since 2019, primarily perpetrated by members of Minnesota's Somali community, leading to skyrocketing program costs.
• Remittances and Terrorism Links: Fraud proceeds sent as remittances to Somalia via hawala networks, with millions funding Al-Shabaab terror group, confirmed by law enforcement sources.
• Political and Media Response: Allegations of media and Democratic officials ignoring fraud due to racism accusations and political ties; expected to impact 2026 elections.

---

Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive pieties, refuse to connect the dots.

In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s sizeable Somali community. Federal counterterrorism sources confirm that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab. As one confidential source put it: “The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

Our investigation shows what happens when a tribal mindset meets a bleeding-heart bureaucracy, when imported clan loyalties collide with a political class too timid to offend, and when accusations of racism are cynically deployed to shield criminal behavior. The predictable result is graft, with taxpayers left to foot the bill.

If you were to design a welfare program to facilitate fraud, it would probably look a lot like Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program. The HSS program, the first of its kind in the country, was launched with a noble goal: to help seniors, addicts, the disabled, and the mentally ill secure housing. It was designed with “low barriers to entry” and “minimal requirements for reimbursement.” Nonetheless, before the program went live in 2020, officials pegged its annual estimated price tag at $2.6 million.

Costs quickly spiraled out of control. In 2021, the program paid out more than $21 million in claims. In the following years, annual costs shot up to $42 million, then $74 million, then $104 million. During the first six months of 2025, payouts totaled $61 million.

On August 1, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services moved to scrap the HSS program, noting that payment to 77 housing-stabilization providers had been terminated this year due to “credible allegations of fraud.” Joe Thompson, then the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, went even further, stating that the “vast majority” of the HSS program was fraudulent.

On September 18, Thompson announced criminal indictments for HSS fraud against Moktar Hassan Aden, Mustafa Dayib Ali, Khalid Ahmed Dayib, Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, Christopher Adesoji Falade, Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade, Asad Ahmed Adow, and Anwar Ahmed Adow—six of whom, according a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson, are members of Minnesota’s Somali community. Thompson made clear that this is just the first round of charges for HSS fraud that his office will be prosecuting.

“Most of these cases, unlike a lot of Medicare fraud and Medicaid fraud cases nationally, aren’t just overbilling,” Thompson said at a press conference announcing the indictments. “These are often just purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system, and that’s unique in the extent to which we have that here in Minnesota.”

Thompson said many firms enrolled in the program “operated out of dilapidated storefronts or rundown office buildings.” The perpetrators often targeted people recently released from rehab, signing them up for Medicaid services they had no intention of providing. He noted many owners of companies engaged in HSS fraud had “other companies through which they billed other Medicaid programs, such as the EIDBI autism program, the . . . Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services program, the . . . Integrated Community Support program, the Community Access for Disability Inclusion . . . . program, PCA services, and other Medicaid-waivered services.”

“What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need. It feels never ending,” Thompson said. “I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away.”

On September 18, the same day that the HSS fraud charges were announced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that a man named Abdullahe Nur Jesow had become the 56th defendant to plead guilty in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

Founded in 2016, Feeding Our Future was a small Minnesota nonprofit that sponsored daycares and after-school programs to enroll in the Federal Child Nutrition Program. The organizations that Feeding Our Future sponsored were primarily owned and operated by members of Minnesota’s Somali community, according to two former state officials with connections to law enforcement.

In 2019, Feeding Our Future received $3.4 million in federal funding disbursed by the state. In the months after the Covid-19 pandemic began, however, the nonprofit rapidly increased its number of sponsored sites. Using fake meal counts, doctored attendance records, and fabricated invoices, the perpetrators of the fraud ring claimed to be serving thousands of meals a day, seven days a week, to underprivileged children. In 2021, Feeding Our Future received nearly $200 million in funding.

In reality, the money was being used to fund lavish lifestyles, purchase luxury vehicles, and buy real estate in the United States, Turkey, and Kenya. In 2020, Minnesota officials raised concerns about the nonprofit’s rapid expansion. In response, the group filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination related to outstanding site applications, noting that Feeding Our Future “caters to . . . foreign nationals.”

“That’s the standard operating playbook for that cohort: when in doubt, claim racism, claim bias,” says David Gaither, a former Minnesota state senator and a nonprofit leader. “Even if the facts don’t point to that, it allows for many folks in the middle, or on the center-Left, to stay silent.”

Gaither believes the mainstream media, alongside Minnesota’s Democratic establishment, have long turned a blind eye to fraud within the Somali community. This, in turn, allowed the problem to metastasize. “The media does not want to put a light on this,” Gaither said. “And if you’re a politician, it’s a significant disadvantage for you to alienate the Somali community. If you don’t win the Somali community, you can’t win Minneapolis. And if you don’t win Minneapolis, you can’t win the state. End of story.”

The fraudsters have leveraged their growing political influence to cultivate close ties with Minnesota’s elected officials. Several individuals involved in the Feeding Our Future scheme donated to, or appeared publicly with, Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born congresswoman from Minneapolis. Omar’s deputy district director, Ali Isse, advocated on behalf of Feeding Our Future. Omar Fateh, a former state senator who recently ran for Minneapolis mayor, lobbied Governor Tim Walz in support of the program. And one of the accused, Abdi Nur Salah, served as a senior aide to Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey.

Just days later, on September 24, U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson announced his office’s first indictment in yet another fraud case. This time, the scheme involved federally funded autism services for children.

The accused is a woman named Asha Farhan Hassan, a member of Minnesota’s Somali community, who has also been charged in the Feeding Our Future scam. She’s alleged to have played a role in a $14 million fraud scheme perpetrated against Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program.

Hassan and her co-conspirators “approached parents in the Somali community” and recruited their children into autism therapy services. It didn’t matter, prosecutors suggested, if a child did not have an autism diagnosis: Hassan would facilitate a fraudulent one.

In a press release announcing the indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office made clear that the alleged autism fraud scheme extended to a wide network of people. “To drive up enrollment, Hassan and her partners paid monthly cash kickback payments to the parents of children who enrolled,” the release reads. “These kickback payments ranged from approximately $300 to $1500 per month, per child. The amount of these payments was contingent on the services DHS authorized a child to receive—the higher the authorization amount, the higher the kickback. Often, parents threatened to leave . . . and take their children to other autism centers if they did not get paid higher kickbacks.”

Much like with the HSS program, autism claims to Medicaid in Minnesota have skyrocketed in recent years—from $3 million in 2018 to $54 million in 2019, $77 million in 2020, $183 million 2021, $279 million in 2022, and $399 million in 2023. Meantime, the number of autism providers in the state spiked from 41 to 328 over the same period, with many in the Somali community establishing their own autism treatment centers, citing the need for “culturally appropriate programming.” By the time the fraud scheme was exposed, one in 16 Somali four-year-olds in the state had reportedly been diagnosed with autism—a rate more than triple the state average.

“This is not an isolated scheme,” Thompson, the U.S. attorney, said in a press release. “From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network.”

What Thompson arguably hinted at, but left unsaid, should be obvious: this “network” of “fraud schemes,” which “form a web” that has stolen “billions of dollars in taxpayer money,” involved many members of Minnesota’s Somali community. The Feeding Our Future, HSS, and autism-services cases are far from the only examples. At least 28 fraud scandals have surfaced since Walz was elected governor in 2019. Most of the large-scale fraud rings, according to two former FBI officials who spoke with City Journal, have been perpetrated by members of the Somali community.

Kayesh Magan, a Somali-American who had worked as a fraud investigator at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, identified the problem last year: “We must grapple with something that is uncomfortable and true: Nearly all of the defendants in the cases I’ve listed are from my community. The Somali community.”

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Somalia fraud story is the scale, with total costs running into the billions of taxpayer dollars. That raises the question: What happened to all that money?

The Somali fraud rings have sent huge sums in remittances, or money transfers, from Minnesota to Somalia. According to reports, an estimated 40 percent of households in Somalia get remittances from abroad. In 2023 alone, the Somali diaspora sent back $1.7 billion—more than the Somali government’s budget for that year.

Our investigation reveals, for the first time, that some of this money has been directed to an even more troubling destination: the al-Qaida-linked Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab. According to multiple law-enforcement sources, Minnesota’s Somali community has sent untold millions through a network of “hawalas,” informal clan-based money-traders, that have wound up in the coffers of Al-Shabaab.

According to Glenn Kerns, a retired Seattle Police Department detective who spent 14 years on a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Somalis ran a sophisticated money network, spanning from Seattle to Minneapolis, and were routing significant amounts of cash on commercial flights from the Seattle airport to the hawala networks in Somalia. One of these networks, Kerns discovered, sent $20 million abroad in a single year. “The amount of money was staggering,” Kerns said.

Kerns’s investigation eventually expanded to Minnesota, where he realized the same thing was happening. “I worked on it for five years,” Kerns said. “We had sources going into the hawalas to send money. I went down to [Minnesota] and pulled all of their records and, well shit, all these Somalis sending out money are on DHS benefits. How does that make sense? We had good sources tell us: this is welfare fraud.”

Kerns then investigated the hawalas in Somalia that were receiving the money transfers. He determined, primarily through human sources, that significant funds were being sent from America to Al-Shabaab networks in Somalia. Whether the money was intended for Al-Shabaab or not, Kerns said, they were taking a cut.

A second former official, who worked on the Minneapolis JTTF, confirms the story’s general structure. This former official, who requested to remain anonymous, worked on two terrorism cases that intersected with Minnesota’s Somali community and has studied the flow of funds from Minnesota to Somalia.

“Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities, in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way,” the former official said. “For every dollar that is transferred from the Twin Cities back to Somalia, Al-Shabaab is . . . taking a cut of it.”

A third source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the close links between the Somali-American community in Minnesota and Islamic terror groups abroad. Ten years ago, the source was recruited as an “independent contractor” for a three-letter agency investigation into the “Minnesota men” who had joined, or attempted to join, ISIS. That year, a Homeland Security task force report found that Minnesota led the nation in the number of Americans who had joined, or attempted to join, ISIS. Of the 58 Americans who had done so, nearly half came from Minnesota.

The relationship is ongoing. “This is a third-rail conversation, but the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” the source said. “There is an issue here that is real, and if there is ever an event that is traceable back to these funds, or to people from this area, then this situation will take on a whole new set of optics.”

Welfare fraud is likely to become a major issue in Minnesota’s 2026 elections. Governor Tim Walz, now seeking a third term, has presided over a litany of scandals and faces Republican Kristin Robbins, who has made fraud prevention central to her campaign.

Gaither, the former state senator, said “political blowback is brewing” in the state and that, as more information emerges from ongoing investigations, “it’s a real rough place to be if you’re the current administration.” He added that if you talk to law-enforcement officials and others close to the probes, “they will tell you off the record that we aren’t even close to being halfway there” in understanding the true scale of the fraud.

The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it. By extension, that means recognizing the problem’s true source. So far, Minnesota’s governing class and its media establishment have failed to take that basic step. Minnesotans will have to confront the uncomfortable but unavoidable reality: members of the Somali community have played a central role in the massive fraud now engulfing the North Star State.

Ryan Thorpe is an investigative reporter at the Manhattan Institute. Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal_, and the author of_ America’s Cultural Revolution.

Photo by Abuukar Mohamed Muhidin/Anadolu via Getty Images

• Gerrymandering history: Practice dates to founding fathers, named after Elbridge Gerry, upheld by Supreme Court in 2019 for partisan but not racial reasons.
• Texas redistricting action: Legislature passed new congressional map earlier this year, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
• Court invalidation: Three-judge panel ruled against Texas map, citing minority vote dilution, ordering 2021 map for midterms, potentially costing Republicans seats.
• Appeal and stay request: Texas officials appealed to Supreme Court, urging emergency docket stay due to extraordinary circumstances and Voting Rights Act misapplication.
• Voting Rights Act critique: Current interpretations mandate majority-minority districts, seen as racial discrimination; justices considering limits in Louisiana v. Callais.
• Purcell principle application: Supreme Court precedent advises against election interference near voting; similar stays granted in past cases like Merrill v. Milligan.
• Election timeline urgency: Primaries in March, filing deadline December 8, absentee voting soon, impacting candidates and military voters.
• Judicial and nomination concerns: Ruling by Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Ted Cruz nominee, criticized; calls for high-quality district judge selections to avoid such issues.

---

close

Redistricting battle across the nation

Texas and California take up gerrymandering fights.

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Listen to this article

6 min

Gerrymandering has been a staple of the Republic since its beginning. The practice has such a storied tradition that it is named after Elbridge Gerry, one of our founding fathers who served as vice president under President James Madison. For decades, leftists attempted to outlaw partisan gerrymandering. Justice Anthony Kennedy could not make up his mind on the issue, so it languished until he retired. Fortunately for the Constitution, President Trump replaced Justice Kennedy — the Court’s swing vote for over a dozen years — with solid constitutionalist Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In 2019, thanks to Kavanaugh’s addition, the Court upheld partisan gerrymandering in Rucho v. Common Cause. Legislatures cannot gerrymander based on race, but they can do so based on partisanship.

Following Texas Democratic lawmakers’ return on Monday, President Donald Trump urged the state legislature to move quickly to pass a highly controversial redistricting bill, saying, "Please pass this Map, ASAP." (Sergio Flores/Getty; Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Earlier this year, Texas did just that. Yet, a three-judge district court panel invalidated Texas’s map earlier this week and ordered that the map drawn by the legislature in 2021 remain in effect for the midterm elections. This ruling could cost Republicans five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The ruling claims that minority votes would be diluted were the new map to go into effect. It does not matter, according to the ruling, that the legislators who voted to redistrict never advocated in favor of discrimination on the basis of race. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. The 2-1 ruling was shockingly written by Texas U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown — handpicked by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in 2019. U.S. Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, the adult on the three-judge panel, dissented.

It is imperative for the justices to stay the ruling using the emergency docket, a vehicle that permits the Court to pause rulings without full briefing and oral argument when extraordinary circumstances necessitate it. Here, the problem lies in the way courts have wrongly applied the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for decades. The current system allows DEI districts; that is, current law mandates majority-minority districts, explicitly requiring racial discrimination in redistricting. The justices are considering the proper interpretation of this statute in Louisiana v. Callais. Even if there might have been a time when such a scheme was permissible at the height of segregation when the Voting Rights Act was passed, that period has long since lapsed. Kavanaugh focused on this point during oral argument in Callais. It would, of course, be ideal for the court to hold that the scheme was never permissible, as Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch suggested during oral argument. Either way, the justices should release the Callais decision in short order so that legislatures can respond accordingly in time for the midterms.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seen on Nov. 14, 2025 in Midlothian, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

It is almost certain that the justices have decided Callais and are crafting the majority, concurring and dissenting opinions. That decision undoubtedly will impact the way the Texas case is decided. If the justices know that they will be curtailing the Voting Rights Act to end mandatory majority-minority districts, they should not allow the ruling of the lower court to stand. In other words, Texas should not be forced to have districts in place that, if the court rules according to the Constitution, are unlawful.

FEDERAL JUDGES BLOCK TEXAS FROM USING REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP

There is a separate reason why the justices should stay the ruling of the lower court. In Purcell v. Gonzalez (2006), the court held that federal courts ordinarily should not interfere in elections when the elections are about to occur. Based on this principle, the justices stayed a similar ruling to the Texas one in 2022. In Merrill v. Milligan, the court dealt with a district court ruling by a three-judge panel that had enjoined the implementation of Alabama’s new congressional map. The panel had issued its ruling about two months prior to the beginning of absentee voting in the Alabama primaries. In concurring in the grant of the stay of that ruling, Kavanaugh emphasized the closeness of the election, citing the decision in Purcell.

The Texas case presents a similar time crunch. The primaries will occur in March, and absentee voting will begin weeks before that. Military personnel overseas need extra time to send in their votes, as many are stationed in remote locations thousands of miles away, and others are in the middle of the ocean on ships or submarines. The filing deadline for the primaries is Dec. 8, only three weeks away. The ruling by the lower court has wreaked havoc; candidates had been planning their runs based on the newly-drawn districts. The justices must restore order to this chaotic mess that the lower court has caused.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

One more important point requires emphasis. Again, one of the two judges who invalidated the map is Brown. He invalidated a map on similar grounds in 2024 concerning Galveston County. The Fifth Circuit, with all 17 judges sitting (formally called en banc), reversed his decision in Petteway v. Galveston County. Brown, again, is a Ted Cruz pick. Presidents must pick district judges based on the recommendations of home-state senators. These senators wield veto power through an outdated tradition called the blue slip. Picking quality district judges is nearly impossible in blue states, where leftist senators will veto excellent candidates. Senators in red states, particularly deep-red states like Texas, must ensure that candidates of the highest quality are recommended for nomination. Brown was a clear miss by Ted Cruz.

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group photo following the recent addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill on Friday, Oct 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

In light of the upcoming filing deadline, time is incredibly short. The Supreme Court rapidly must stay this incorrect order and restore the lawful map passed and signed into law earlier this year. The justices also must rule against continuing the practice of DEI districts by restoring sanity to voting rights jurisprudence. This decision also needs to occur quickly so that legislatures across the country can have time to redistrict prior to the midterms. There is no place for racial discrimination in elections, and there is no place for improper judicial interference in elections. The Supreme Court needs to put a stop to all of it now.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Mike Davis is the founder of the Article III Project.