James Lynch writes for National Review Online about the latest evidence of government waste and fraud.
The first hearing of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency was held Wednesday and featured extensive discussion of the domestic and international criminal organizations stealing vast sums of taxpayer dollars from the U.S. government.
Haywood Talcove, CEO of Lexis Nexis Risk Solution, described to lawmakers the different kinds of criminals exploiting U.S. government benefits systems, pointing out that Covid relief provided a windfall of over $1 trillion to those criminal elements.
“Outdated government systems permit criminals to access unlimited sums of money. During the pandemic, they stole $1 trillion dollars, 70 percent of those dollars went overseas. Shockingly, it’s just not criminals exploiting the system, it’s the flawed system itself acting as the accomplice. If left unchecked, the U.S. government will continue to lead the world in funding cyber criminals,” Talcove said.
As the Trump and then Biden administration pushed Covid relief money out the door quickly, criminals were able to take advantage of the government largesse: The Department of Labor’s inspector general estimated in February 2023 that at least $191 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits were improper payments. Another estimated $200 billion was stolen from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection and Disaster Loan programs, according to the SBA IG.
Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) introduced legislation last month to extend the authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, a watchdog tasked with tracking down billions worth of Covid-19 fraud, and empowering the Treasury Department to collect delinquent loans under $100,000.
In addition to Covid-related fraud, Talcove identified Medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and TANF as government assistance programs rife with fraud and abuse.The U.S. government’s lack of data sharing, ineffective fraud detection systems, and outdated verification methods are all matters of concern for Talcove.
