Rep. Jackie Walorski
U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) this week joined two Republican colleagues to request that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the scope and severity of fraudulent activity in COVID-19 unemployment insurance programs.
“Fraud in COVID unemployment programs appears to be the greatest theft of American tax dollars in our nation’s history, estimated at anywhere from $89 billion to $400 billion. Yet, there is currently no federal effort in place to formally evaluate and estimate the true scope and severity of COVID unemployment fraud nationwide,” wrote Rep. Walorski and her congressional colleagues in an Aug. 31 letter sent to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who heads the GAO.
Specifically, Rep. Walorski joined U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) in requesting that the GAO conduct a complementary, targeted review of federal funds, including from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and Extended Benefits.
They also noted they’re concerned that “responsibility for determining how much fraud has occurred lies scattered throughout a web of bureaucracies.”
“The scattering of responsibilities suggests that Congress will be ill equipped to have adequate information to assess future unemployment insurance responses to large economic shocks; and, at the same time, ensure they are not plagued by gaping security holes that allow fraudsters an open window to use unlawfully obtained taxpayer funds,” the lawmakers wrote.
Rep. Walorski and her colleagues also pointed out that fraud in COVID-19 unemployment programs has been extensively documented, including by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Inspector General, which released an initial audit and investigation indicating that improper payments could be at least $89 billion, with a significant portion attributable to fraud.
“Unemployment fraud takes resources away from American workers who deserve assistance and puts those resources directly in the pockets of fraudsters,” wrote the lawmakers.
Rep. Walorski and the members requested that Dodaro provide them with a multitude of information. The first prioritized item, for example, is for Dodaro to provide “an informed, rough order of magnitude, estimate at the national level of the amount of potentially fraudulent payments in COVID unemployment programs covering the period of March 27, 2021 through September 6, 2021.”
They requested that the analysis include the identification of states that were most at-risk and/or targeted by criminals and the extent to which foreign actors or international crime rings played a role in unemployment fraud. They expect an answer by Dec. 31.