(Washington, D.C.) - Second District Congressman Rudy Yakym was on Capitol Hill this week for the first meeting of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee.
The hearing focused on prosecuting cases totaling hundreds of billions of dollars for fraudulent unemployment benefits. Much of the fraud stems from pandemic claims.
According to the Government Accountability Office, such fraudulent claims total at least $135 billion, or about 15% of total unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. The Department of Labor’s Inspector General says that number is closer to $200 billion. And only $5 billion of it—less than 4%-- has been recouped.
Fraud was rampant in some states more than others, Yakym noted. “California alone accounts for $20-33 billion of fraudulent pandemic UI payments,” he said in the committee hearing. “One estimate put the state’s improper payment rate at nearly 37% in the first sixth month of the pandemic. No business could survive allowing for over one-third of payments that are made to be fraudulent.”
Yakym said local taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for the losses. “Hardworking Hoosiers in my district don’t want their taxpayer dollars going to subsidize California or any other state with such lax payment controls,” he said.
The statute of limitations to prosecute these cases expires at the end of March. Yakym and others are pushing Congress to extend that deadline, in the hopes of bringing more fraudsters to justice.
