Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre will testify during a congressional hearing on the need for welfare reform on Tuesday, the communications director for the House Ways and Means Committee confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
The committee’s website lists the hearing as “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Reform: States’ Misuse of Welfare Funds Leaves Poor Families Behind.”
TANF funds are at the center of the sprawling Mississippi welfare case that Favre has been embroiled in since 2022. At least $77 million in TANF funds, intended for poor families, were diverted to the wealthy and powerful, according to a Mississippi state audit.
Favre is one of several defendants in a civil suit seeking to recover the misappropriated funds. He has denied wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged.
House Ways and Means Department communications director JP Freire did not provide further details about Favre’s scheduled appearance. A spokesman for Favre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Favre could face questions from the committee about what he knew about the source of money for a volleyball facility at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, as well as about Prevacus, a company developing a concussion drug in which Favre was the largest outside investor and shareholder.
Text messages made public in legal documents show Favre lobbied state officials to fund volleyball facilities during the time his daughter was on the team. The university’s athletic foundation received $5 million in TANF funds. Favre donated $1.4 million of his own money to build the facilities.
The text messages also show Favre asking state officials for help in securing funding for Prevacus, which received $2 million in TANF funds. Prevacus founder Jacob VanLandingham pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July, admitting he used Mississippi welfare money to pay off gambling and other debts.
Favre also received $1.1 million in TANF funds for speeches that the state auditor said Favre never gave. He eventually returned the money, but the auditor has required him to also pay $228,000 in interest.
Punchbowl News He was the first to report Favre’s appearance at the hearing.
