Tuesday’s report cautioned that the “full extent of UI fraud during the pandemic will likely never be known with certainty.”
The Labor Department took issue with the report’s methodology, arguing that it resulted in a higher share of UI expenditures to be categorized as fraudulent. | Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty ImagesAs much as $135 billion in unemployment insurance benefits may have been lost to fraud during Covid-19, according to a Government Accountability OfficeThe federal watchdog estimated that fraudulent payments may have amounted to between 10 and 15 percent of the $900 billion spent on UI between April 2020 and May 2023, when the federal public health emergency ended.
Last December, GAO estimated that roughly $60 billion may have been lost to UI fraud, but officials later concluded that figure to be a substantial undercount.The report attributes the deluge of fraud to vulnerabilities in the state-federal partnership that existed long before the pandemic’s onset in early 2020 and were exacerbated by a series of emergency relief measures passed by Congress that sought to quickly help people who were put out of work during the pandemic. The problem spanned both the Trump and Biden administrations, the latter of which has taken steps to crack down on fraud and other improper benefit payments.allocated $2 billion to help states modernize their UI systems and improve their safeguards, but the debt ceiling deal hashed out this spring between the White House and congressional Republicansafter some conservatives took issue with which areas the administration was targeting funding toward. said in a statement Tuesday that he was “extremely alarmed” by the report and that “immediate action is needed to recover as much taxpayer dollars as possible.”to recover misspent funds.The Labor Department took issue with the GAO’s methodology, arguing that it resulted in a higher share of UI expenditures to be categorized as fraudulent. Brent Parton, the acting head of DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, cast the findings as “best understood as an estimate of UI fraud risk, rather than a fraud estimate,” in a letter responding to a draft version of the report. Still DOL’s inspector general in February estimated that as much as $191 billion had been improperly distributed, through fraud and improper payments.Parton said that the agency has “committed significant resources and taken concerted action to deter fraud and to assist law enforcement in holding perpetrators accountable while ensuring timely, equitable access to benefits” to address the issue. The Justice Department in recent weeks has reiterated that it continues to pursue criminal charges into Covid-related fraud and that it has investigated more than $8.5 billion in allegations to date.
Please follow us on Google to support us United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Michael Irvin returns to NFL Network, settles $100 million lawsuit with Marriott after misconduct allegationsFormer Dallas Cowboys star and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin settled his defamation lawsuit against Marriott and officially returned to the NFL Network on Sunday morning, just in time to kick off the 2023 season.
Read more »
Michael Irvin returns to NFL Network, settles $100 million lawsuit with Marriott after misconduct allegationsFormer Dallas Cowboys star and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin settled his defamation lawsuit against Marriott and officially returned to the NFL Network on Sunday morning, just in time to kick off the 2023 season.
Read more »
17 smart devices under $100 that will make your life a whole lot easierThere are many devices available that can help us live our daily lives. Some of them are almost smarter than we are.
Read more »
Best Buy has all Galaxy Tab S9 models on sale with a free $100 gift cardYou can essentially save $220 on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series right now.
Read more »
Bitget unveils $100 million fund to invest in exchanges, analytics and mediaBitget's $100 million EmpowerX Fund will invest in regional exchanges, data analytics firms, media organizations and other entities.
Read more »
Taiwan chip giant TSMC to invest up to $100 million in Arm IPOTSMC manufactures semiconductors for companies from Apple to Nvidia, that are often based on Arm architecture.
Read more »