A group of Senate Republicans recently asked Biden administration officials for an update on its efforts to recover fraudulent benefits obtained through the temporary COVID-19 unemployment insurance (UI) programs.
Since the programs were created in March 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, there have been various reports of suspected UI fraud. Recent testimony by the DOL inspector general indicated that nearly $200 billion of COVID-19 UI benefits could have been improper or fraudulent.
“At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress established temporary COVID-19 unemployment insurance (UI) programs, which provided short-term financial assistance to the millions of Americans that found themselves unemployed through no fault of their own,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden Administration officials. “As well-intentioned as the COVID-19 UI programs were, these programs were not immune from waste, fraud, and abuse.”
The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Todd Young (R-IN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), and James Lankford (R-OK).
The letter was sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Martin Walsh.
“As members of Congress, we continue to be concerned about the unprecedented amount of COVID-19 UI benefits that were fraudulent, and, presently, we are seeking insight into the effectiveness of these task forces and other efforts by your agencies in recouping fraudulent COVID-19 UI benefits,” the senators stated.
Last year, Thune introduced a bill, the Recovering Fraudulent Claims Act, which would establish a task force to investigate alleged instances of fraud in the COVID-19 UI programs.