$100 billion in COVID-era unemployment fraud targeted by Republicans
By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square
Legislation that would give the U.S. Department of Justice more time to track down and punish pandemic-era unemployment insurance (UI) fraud is on its way to the U.S. House floor.
The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., provides a five-year extension on the statute of limitations for criminally prosecuting those who committed CARES Act related UI fraud.
According to the DOJ, there are still 157,000 open UI fraud complaints and 1,648 open investigations. If no congressional action is taken, the current statute will expire on March 27, leaving thousands of Americans unreimbursed for stolen benefits and potentially hundreds of fraudsters would be let off the hook.
“Given the volume of existing cases currently under investigation, there is no reason that Congress should not act to ensure law enforcement stays on this beat and goes after these criminals,” Smith told lawmakers. “If we don't extend the statute of limitations, every one of these investigations will end and those that perpetrated the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history will not be brought to justice.”
While the Government Accountability Office estimates that upwards of $100 billion in unemployment benefits were lost to fraud during the pandemic, only $5 billion have been recovered.
“Fraudsters ran rampant during COVID, taking advantage of states like California that had weak fraud protections in their unemployment insurance systems,” U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said. “We can’t let them off the hook by letting the statute of limitations expire.”
Currently, more than 2,000 individuals have been charged with, and over 1,400 convicted of, unemployment insurance fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The bill has 25 cosponsors, all Republican, and is part of the GOP’s efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse connected to the federal government.
Comment
Not a wise financial decision
If I were an accountant and a sage in the matter of investments, capital, and retirement benefits.... I sure as heck would not work for the state of California for 11 years! Especially if my state job was advising other California citizens and the so-called unemployed as to what unfunded funds they were supposedly entitled to.
We should stop calling it…
We should stop calling it waste, fraud and abuse and start calling it what it is -CRIME.
Should Have Bipartisan Support
Employed at CA EDD Workforce Services 2009 to 2020. In 2020, it was discovered an audit from 2009 had been provided to the CA Legislature about the need for fixing very inadequate internal controls. EDD leadership failed to implement stronger controls. Thus it was easy for even prison inmates and other uneligble claimants to file false claims. One issue is CA cannot hire enough UI auditors to do the work. As of 2020, it was estimated at the then staffing levels, it would be10 years to review fraudulent claims. Best case scenario. Therefore, it requires more time and more funding to recover stolen UI benefits. Plus the Legislature needs to be more proactive in followup. I read the annual reports to the Legislature and found them to be out of line with reality as a staffer in field offices. There are no unemployment staff in field offices anywhere. Workforce Services staff assists. Democrats should be supporting this. Funding for other social programs is not there as CA can hardly balance a budget. CA still has unemployment benefit loans from the great recession and Pandemic era UI claims. It is 22 billion. The recent LA County fires and now Trump reductions in federal employment only makes it more difficult to pay UI benefits.