Leading Republicans in the House and Senate are urging U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh to avoid allowing states to forgo recovery of overpayments in pandemic unemployment programs.
The GOP lawmakers point out that 19 percent of total COVID unemployment insurance payments were improperly paid as a result of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This equals more than $80 billion in taxpayer funds.
The DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is considering guidance that would allow states to apply blanket waivers to forgo recovery of overpayments in pandemic unemployment programs. The Republican lawmakers are urging ETA not to take this route.
“Allowing use of blanket waivers would let states off the hook for due diligence and fact-finding for large volumes of suspicious unemployment claims potentially involving billions of fraudulently obtained taxpayer dollars. ETA’s guidance not only ignores the prevalence of fraud but is issued under dubious legal authority. We write to request an immediate stay of the effective date of this guidance and an explanation of the agency’s legal authority, including whether ETA consulted with the Office of the Solicitor to ensure legal authority exists, and if ETA consulted with the Department of Justice’s National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Taskforce or the Labor Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) to ensure this does not undermine existing investigations,” the lawmakers wrote to Walsh.
The letter is signed by U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Rob Portman (R-OH). It was also signed by U.S. Reps. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and James Comer (R-KY).
The GOP congress members also request responses to several questions related to the matter by Feb. 28.