[JustTheNews] Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, accused Democrats and the Biden administration of attempting to cover up massive pandemic relief fraud.
"Right now our Democrat colleagues are continuing to turn a blind eye to what's possibly the greatest theft of American taxpayer dollars in American history," Brady said on Tuesday during a briefing on the estimated $80 billion of pandemic unemployment payment fraud.
"Faced with billions of dollars lost to unchecked unemployment fraud involving organized cybercrime and international crime rings, Democrats have ignored repeated calls for congressional oversight hearings," he added.
Stimulus funding was needed in the early days of the pandemic when the economy shut down, but the continuation of most relief programs into late 2021 led to increased fraudulent activity, Brady argued.
"It was necessary to help the jobless, but these programs lingered and became one of the most flawed and wasteful recovery efforts ever enacted by the federal government," said the Texas Republican. "In fact, total state and federal spending on enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits exceeded $850 billion in less than two years. These programs have stunted our economic growth and worsened the labor shortage, resulting in the highest inflation in 40 years."
Brady noted that lawmakers still "don't know how much of the taxpayers' dime has been lost to fraud."
"At the low end, the White House estimates nearly $80 billion has been lost to fraud last year, but outside experts put that number much higher, estimating that criminal fraudsters have stolen $400 billion from American taxpayers — that's half of all the COVID unemployment aid," he said. "And put another way, $400 billion is more than the entire 2021 budgets of the Army and the Navy combined. And yet Democrats have the nerve to say that Americans need to pay more in taxes."
The unprecedented level of stolen pandemic relief has led to increased identify theft victims, Brady said.
"Last year, when congressional Democrats rammed through the partisan $1.9 trillion so-called COVID stimulus, which drove inflation, by the way, in a major way, our colleagues rejected numerous Republican amendments that would have targeted relief and prevented fraud," Brady said.
"Now, the Biden administration has taken unilateral action to sweep suspected fraud under the rug, allowing states to waive large numbers of suspicious claims and forego recovery and restitution for taxpayers," he added. "This is a cover-up from the Biden administration on an issue that has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Enough is enough, it's time for Congress to go after fraudsters and recover the dollars that have been lost."
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced the Combating COVID Unemployment Fraud Act.
According to Brady, the bill focuses on "preventing fraud on the front end, supporting the clawback of privately paid dollars and providing relief to victims of unemployment fraud and identity theft."
Brady argued that the bill would end the "pay and chase models" of public benefits by "emphasizing identity verification, and putting in place digital identity proofing services before we give out the benefits."
Brady warned that the Democrats' "dysfunctional IRS" is not prepared to help Americans who may only have just learned they are fraud victims.
"I worry economic growth has peaked for this presidency, and we are entering a wage price spiral that will drive inflation higher and longer for Americans," he said. "There is simply too much at stake not to act."
Under the CARES Act, Congress allowed self-employed individuals to apply for unemployment benefits for the first time, which experts say opened the floodgates for fraudulent claims. The supplemental federal unemployment bonus payments were continued through late 2021 under President Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.
Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski said the White House has estimated about 19% of all pandemic unemployment claims were improperly paid out.
"And that's only a partial estimate," she said. "The truth is we don't know the size and scope of unemployment fraud or the full extent of federal law enforcement officers' efforts to prosecute and recover funds. Democrats simply aren't interested in fulfilling their responsibility to investigate the funds and in the federal programs."
both the CARES ACT of 2020 and of 2021 were passed under Trump. The latter was signed in late Dec 2020.
The messed up administration resulting in fraud is mostly due to the limitations of State govt, but of course, it was made easier by the loose legislative language on eligibility of beneficiaries.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/24/2022 8:55 Comments ||
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#3
So the Dems are covering up something they could blame on Trump? How ironic!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/24/2022 9:35 Comments ||
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#4
The GOPe is screeching "You're making us look bad!"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/24/2022 9:36 Comments ||
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#6
^ That's true, but they are used to playing the lovable, dumb cop. "Car 54, Where are you?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/24/2022 9:42 Comments ||
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#7
Eighty billion is nothing compared to the 2008 mortgage meltdown heist.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/24/2022 13:05 Comments ||
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#8
1. the $80B is probably a significant underestimate
2. the 2008 crises was made of many parts, the TARP (troubled asset refinance program) did have fraud, in the order of hundreds of millions but ultimately was a net gainer for the Dept of Treasury of something like $100 B. A lot of mortgages went under but that had winners (people who walked away from zero down mortgages) and losers (people who owned stock in various banks that held mortgages that were foreclosed).
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/24/2022 13:42 Comments ||
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#9
Losers also included people who went upside down. I was one.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/24/2022 16:28 Comments ||
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[JustTheNews] Maryland legislation would copy California, which is being sued by female inmates, while Washington House approves bill in response to leaks about violent male offenders housed with women.
As West Coast states deal with the fallout of putting anatomically male inmates in women's prisons, the East Coast is looking to join the club.
Maryland is considering legislation similar to a California law that lets inmates choose their correctional facility based on self-declared gender identity, an option that concerned even transgender inmates in the Golden State.
A purported draft executive order by President Joe Biden would do the same to federal prisons, prompting GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas to introduce opposing legislation.
One chamber of the Washington State Legislature recently approved the nuclear option to deal with ongoing scrutiny of its transgender transfers: hiding basic information about male inmates, including their reported assaults on women, from the public.
The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is active in all three state fights, most recently testifying against the Maryland legislation (HB 453, SB 550) at two committee hearings this month.
The gender-critical feminist group, which defends sex-based rights, emphasized the Maryland proposals contain no exceptions for "male prisoners who have been convicted of rape or domestic assault."
Legal director Lauren Adams told Just the News the legislation isn't getting much attention "even locally." A search of The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and Capital Gazette, the Legislature's hometown newspaper, found no coverage since the bills were introduced last month.
The legislation tacitly acknowledges that it would make Maryland prisons coed, prohibiting discrimination against inmates on the basis of both sex and gender identity.
Inmates "shall" be housed in men's or women's facilities, and bodily searches performed, based on their "preference." The corrections department can only veto the preference "due to specific and articulable management or security concerns," which must be provided in writing to the denied inmate. "Anatomy" is not a basis for denial.
Incoming inmates would be affirmatively asked for their gender identity and pronouns, and whether they identify as "transgender, nonbinary, or intersex."
Prison staff would be required to let inmates update their gender identity "at any time" upon their request, and use their pronouns in all communications regarding inmates, even when they aren't present.
The predictable results of the legislation are known from California, according to WoLF, which is suing the state on behalf of female inmates on 1st, 8th and 14th Amendment grounds. Anatomical males have assaulted or become sexually active with female inmates, Adams previously told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Woman II Woman, an advocacy group run by ex-convicts, claimed female inmates had started "sleep schedules so that one woman is always on watch to make sure no one gets raped."
Earlier this month the Washington House approved a bill (HB 1956) that would prevent the public from learning about such violence, though the amended version is substantially shorter than the original.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] His puppet masters may have been on a smoke break
President Joe Biden hit Fox News Channel's Peter Doocy with a dose of sarcasm after the reporter yelled and asked the president if he 'underestimated Putin'
'The thing I love about the press is they're always on message,' Biden said at a Tuesday afternoon minerals event
He then joked to those participating virtually, which included California's Gov. Gavin Newsom, 'Did you underestimate Putin?'
The president was in a more jovial mood at the afternoon gathering in the South Court Auditorium after having already announced the new Russian sanctions
When Newsom said he thought Biden might cancel the president replied, 'We don't have much going on, you know, other than Russia and Ukraine'
Biden then touted the progress made by the government and private industry to boost American production of minerals for electric cars and other green items
#3
This man should be in Leavenworth for 20 years for illegal domestic spying. But he's not, because there's one set of rules for them and another for us.
#7
It's not our business. The fact it will have repercussions that we will feel here does not change that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/24/2022 8:41 Comments ||
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#8
Trying to remember what was going on then.....
Oh yeah, laundering Uranium for Iran through Russia.
Annnddd...the Bidens were establishing dodgy banking practices to the point that Joe had to bribe Ukrainian officials to 86 the investigations. And sonofabitch, they did!
So Hillary! took the leg to get Uranium to Russia, Biden was in charge of laundering the "transfer fees", and in exchange to transporting the Uranium to Iran, Russia got Chrimea - part of the deal or not that was part of their cut because Obama wasn't going to scrub the hustle for such a small thing.
Help me out here, or do I need to purchase futures in aluminum?
#10
Clapper should read some history books instead of engineering illegal coups. Crimea has been Russian ever since Catherine the Great ran the Tatars out of it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/24/2022 13:10 Comments ||
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#11
How could Mr. Clapper be more aggressive when President Obama was working on being more flexible with Russia?
[DailyMail] Security chief tells our spies to go woke: With a full Ukraine invasion in Europe's worst crisis since WW2, MI5 and MI6 officers are being told to think about their 'white privilege'... and avoid using words such as 'grip' and 'strong'
UK's spies are being urged to consider 'white privilege' and declare pronouns
Leaked guide suggests agents should avoid genders terms such as 'manpower'
The spies are also encouraged not to speak on all-male panels in the document
Critics said security should be less focused on inclusion and more on Ukraine
[NationalPost] Critics and opposition leaders have criticized the measures, particularly those meant to target money and bank accounts allegedly connected to convoy organizers and supporters
Just a day after MPs approved it and potentially hours before being put to vote in the Senate, emergency measures invoked by the Trudeau Liberals last week have been revoked...Even with the occupations ended, the prime minister said the situation was far from over.
"This issue won't just go away," he said, announcing that a parliamentary review of the government's decision to invoke the act would be struck within 60 days.
"We need to constantly work to defend and improve our democracy at home and around the world."
Under Sec. 62 of the Emergencies Act such reviews are mandatory and, according to the legislation, held in private...Section 63 also gives the Governor General the authority to order an inquiry into the circumstances that prompted the invocation of the order and measures taken during the emergency...The Act, which requires passage in both Houses of government, passed muster in the House of Commons on Tuesday in a 185 to 151 vote...As news broke in the Red Chamber that the prime minister was set to revoke the Act, Senators shrugged and went on with their debates...Earlier in the day, some senators said they were still "torn" in choosing how to vote on the extension of the Emergencies Act and it was unclear if the Senate would vote it down....Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu suggested on Twitter the prime minister decided to revoke the act instead of risking it being voted down by the Senate.
"The Prime Minister knew the Senate would not support him. He chose to back down rather than to admit defeat," wrote Boisvenu in French.
...
The vote in the Senate was set to happen after the end of the debates, either Wednesday night or Thursday.
The federal government says the RCMP are working with financial institutions to "unfreeze" bank accounts locked by emergency orders that targeted people who organized, participated in, or donated to the so-called Freedom Convoy blockades.
Isabelle Jacques, assistant deputy minister of finance, told a Commons standing committee Tuesday that the RCMP began "sharing information" — related to the end of "unlawful" blockades — with banks and financial institutions as of Monday that should lead to affected accounts being "unfrozen."
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Jacques said some bank account holders may still be subject to other court orders freezing their assets.
The province of Ontario won an order on Feb. 10 that froze the distribution of funds raised through the American online funding platform, GiveSendGo. And on Feb. 17 a group of Ottawa citizens, businesses, and employees who are suing key organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy 2022 won a sweeping order to preserve their ability to recover damages.
The class action lawsuit has not yet been certified by a court, but it targets the accounts of individuals, specifically Patrick King, Tamara Lich, Christopher Garrah, Nicholas St. Louis and Benjamin Dichter — all key players in the protests — as well as the corporation "Freedom Convoy 2022 Human Rights and Freedoms" that lawyer Paul Champ said was set up Jan. 30 to collect nearly $11 million that was raised on GiveSendGo. The protesters occupied downtown Ottawa for 24 days after demanding a lifting of Canada’s pandemic restrictions. Police finally broke up the protest on the weekend. Blockades at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor and the border crossing in Coutts, Alta. were removed last week.
The Department of Finance officials said the emergency order issued by the Trudeau government led to between 206 to 210 accounts being frozen, totalling some $7.8 million.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
02/24/2022 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
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#1
This article is the most coherent one I've found on this issue. There has been so much utter bilge and garbage costed by the MSM and by internet commenters otherwise.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
02/24/2022 0:13 Comments ||
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#2
What led up to the action, from the day before: Senate of Canada growing frustrated by pressure to rubber stamp Emergencies Act: Senators are being asked to make decisions on the basis of 'secret information' for a crisis 'that is not visible'
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
02/24/2022 0:18 Comments ||
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#3
Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843, thank you for being on top of this for us. Truly, Rantburg is a team project!
#5
Let's not ignore the bank run he started. I'm sure the heads of the major banks suddenly realized the consequences of what they had done and got someone's ear.
#6
Yes. A safe bet that the third phone call from a bank CEO saying "there's no piece of paper the gummint can issue to reverse a bank run" got somebody's attention.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/24/2022 6:23 Comments ||
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#7
Which 'laws and bylaws' enacted during the Emogencies Act are those; and do they count since they were put in place during the Emogency; need to be ratified?
That would seem right, or are we 21st century lawing it?
#9
As an American, I have never thought about having a Canadian bank account. But if I or anyone else ever did, here's Exhibit A as to why NOT to do it.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/24/2022 10:27 Comments ||
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#10
So if the act was revoked, does that expose the govt to liabilities for damages and cancel any charges against the truckers and others? It wasnt allowed to expire, but revoked.
Could get interesting
[TheHill] Top prosecutors leading an investigation within the Manhattan District Attorney's Office regarding former President Trump and his business dealings submitted their resignations on Wednesday, just weeks before the term of the probe's grand jury expires in April, The New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge.
After the new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg signaled pullback about moving ahead with the Trump probe, both Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne resigned, those sources told the newspaper.
Bragg was "grateful for their service," a spokesperson for the district attorney told the Times, noting that it was an ongoing investigation. The newspaper noted that it was not immediately clear why Bragg had doubts about the case.
Dunne declined to comment about the matter to the Times, while Pomerantz confirmed to the newspaper his resignation.
That said, the pause in grand jury activity in the Manhattan case coincides with the ramping up of NY Attorney General Letitia James' investigation, which is examining some of the same conduct by the former president.
Last week, James received approval from a court to question Trump and two of his adult children under oath, and has filed documents which accuse the Trump Organization of misrepresenting the value of its properties. According to one filing, the company engaged in "fraudulent or misleading" practices. While James lacks the authority to criminally charge Trump, she has the option of suing him.
Trump has denied inflating property values or defrauding lenders - accusing both Bragg and James of being politically motivated "racists."
Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, fired the Trump Organization and announced that it would no longer stand behind a decade of Trump's financial statements. That said, Mazars says it has not, "as a whole," found material discrepancies between information provided by the Trump Organization and the actual value of Trump's assets.
That said, even with Mazars' actions, a criminal case is highly unlikely according to the Times. Meanwhile, prosecutors have been unable to convince Trump CFO Alan Weisselberg to cooperate with the investigation.
Breitbart.com reported:
"Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naive efforts at a one-sided ’reset’ and the shortsightedness of ’America First,’" Romney said in a statement released on social media Wednesday evening.
Romney’s statement hinted at Biden’s attempt to "reset" the relationship with Russia at the beginning of his term, but more aggressively criticized Trump’s "America First" foreign policy.
The Utah senator, and failed presidential candidate, also took a shot at former President Barack Obama who beat him in 2012 for the presidency.
"The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer," Romney said, referring to a moment in the 2012 presidential debate when Obama dismissed his concerns about the threat that Russia posed to the world.
Under Trump, Putin did not make any additional significant actions against Ukraine, although he annexed Crimea in 2014 under former President Barack Obama’s administration when Biden was vice president.
Go away
Posted by: Woodrow ||
02/24/2022 11:57 ||
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Link ||
[11122 views]
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#1
So why did Putin only try taking land during Obumble and Briandead's terms? Maybe Trump made it very clear that Russia would have to face the US if it did anything.
I don't see this as Trump's fault. I see it as you and your ilk's weakness and cowardness that emboldens tyrants.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2022 15:11 Comments ||
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#6
Mitt Romney, so stunning! So brave!
Then why did he post on an anonymous account? Now that it is mentioned, how many other hidden accounts does this multi-millionaire public servant have?
#9
When can I get a chance to donate to his primary opponent?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/24/2022 16:25 Comments ||
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#10
The one chance he had to look good because of his comments on Russia back during his election when the left pooh-poohed it as old style nonsense and he screws it up.
Trump hatred is like meth. They just can't resist.
#2
In the meantime, an Epstein associate dies in prison, and kids get groomed in public school by matching sexual acts with pizza toppings.
Wasn't George Clooney in Indonesia or some place and said something along the lines that the gheysex community, and with Clooney I think I know what he was hinting at here, should start pressuring countries to allow certain hookups?
And everyone was like STFU not so loud!
Perhaps we should delve a bit deeper into what really got us the latest Energy Secretary? Transportation Secretary? President Sniff-a-Lot? Admiral Tits on a Bull?
Why....its almost like there is a plan to insert sexual deviants into levers of power.
#3
She has become a divisive national figure for her flirtations with conspiratorial conservative thinking
Seems a lot of 'conspiratorial' theories have proven somewhat valid in the last few months. Conspiratorial theories is just another phrase thrown around like white supremacy.
#5
Do you know ANYONE pushing QAnon theories or plans other than Dems and the MSM? I don't
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2022 20:09 Comments ||
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#6
Q has lived in the heads of Donks for a long time now. White supremicists is another one of those notions they can't get out of their heads. Get Trump is always rattling around filling the vacancy between their ears too. Throw Russian collusion/delusion is in there too. Climate change, diversiy. Wokeness. J6 Insurrection fiction. It is much easier to focus all their time on inane trivia than actually do something useful. Just think of the insane amount of money spent on this only minute list.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Security chief tells our spies to go woke: With a full Ukraine invasion in Europe's worst crisis since WW2, MI5 and MI6 officers are being told to think about their 'white privilege'... and avoid using words such as 'grip' and 'strong'
