Illinois lawmakers want investigation after audit shows unaccountable
unemployment fraud
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[June 18, 2022]
By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The call is growing
louder for an investigation of Illinois' unemployment agency after an
audit revealed an "unprecedented" number of fraud cases.
The report by the Auditor General said the Illinois Department of
Employment Security paid out nearly $2 billion in federal tax funds to
fraudsters. The audit covers the year up to June 30, 2021.
"That is what really is surprising everybody, just a massive amount of
money stolen, and the governor is just throwing up his hands claiming it
is not his fault," said Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn
Woods. "That is really frustrating to me."
McConchie added had Gov. J.B. Pritzker "prioritized the issue and not
been so focused on arbitrarily shutting down businesses and then
criminalizing them for noncompliance of his mandates, these problems
could have been mitigated."
Pritzker's office told the Capitol Fax political blog the agency stopped
$40 billion in fraudulent payments and blamed the administration of
former President Donald Trump.
"The fraudsters illicitly got federal money – not state – because the
Trump administration designed a uniquely flawed system," the statement
said.
Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, told The Center Square they are
reviewing the audit findings "and possible next steps."
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Officials at IDES admitted in 2020 that more than 200,000 fraudulent
unemployment claims had been filed but never released a dollar estimate
despite requests from lawmakers.
Auditors also found the agency failed to maintain accurate and complete
data on people filing claims through the program, stating "the
accounting was so horrendous that the Auditor's General's office could
not conduct a proper audit of IDES to determine the amount of fraud that
occurred."
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Numerous lawmakers are demanding hearings on the matter, including state
Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur.
"We need to get these people out in the open and we need to ask them who
got this money," said Caulkins. "They know who they wrote the checks
to."
Auditor General audits are often the subject of hearings held by the
Legislative Audit Commission, but no hearing date is scheduled. The last
hearing was in May.
According to the Chicago Tribune, an investigation they published last
year identified "problems in Illinois were exacerbated" by the
department's failure to adopt fraud-fighting tools provided before the
pandemic, per federal recommendations.
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"Learning that almost $2 billion was paid out to fraudsters from IDES
during a time when Illinoisans critically needed this assistance is
appalling," said state Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva. "The General Assembly
must hold this agency accountable for such inexcusable mismanagement in
a time of crisis for many Illinois residents. These are taxpayer
dollars. We need to get to the bottom of this issue immediately,
starting with legislative hearings."
The audit also notes the state approved using federal tax funds to pay
down $2.7 billion of the $4.5 billion unemployment trust fund debt
Illinois incurred during the pandemic, "resulting in a remaining loan
balance of [$1.8 billion] as of March 29, 2022."
Illinois taxpayers are on the hook for interest on that remaining loan
balance. If the debt isn't paid off, it could lead to tax increases on
Illinois businesses and benefit reductions for the unemployed.
"I hope that we can convince the Pritzker administration to use that
COVID money rather than taxing our employers," Caulkins said.
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois for
the Center Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio news
reporting throughout the Midwest. |