White House Defends Labor Secretary Nominee Who Oversaw Billions In COVID Relief Fraud

The White House In spite of the fact that she was responsible for billions of dollars in revenue, President Joe Biden defended the record Julie Su, Deputy Labor Secretary. Pandemic relief Fraud during her tenure as a senior official California.

Su headed the California Labor Department which oversees Employment Development Department. Fraudulent activity was responsible for one-tenth the $114 billion in pandemic aid claims. According to a January 2021 report, 17% more of the benefits were paid to accounts that had been frozen to allow for investigation. This means that fraud totals over $31 billion. Report The San Francisco Chronicle.

One reporter raised concerns to White House Press Secretary Karinejean-Pierre during a Wednesday Briefing. The official justified the phenomenon by noting Su was forced into handling one in five unemployment relief applications nationwide.

“It was a historic crush of unemployment claims at the onset of the pandemic. That’s what we were seeing,” She spoke to the reporter. “The design of the initial pandemic unemployment systems and years of national investments in UI modernization led to challenges, including fraud attacks, as you were just stating, across the nation in red and blue states alike. That was happening across the country during the very early stages of the pandemic.”

Jean-Pierre said that Su “took important steps to process a number of claims” And he noted that the Biden administration will fight fraud in pandemic relief. “This is an issue that’s important to her, strengthening those safety nets, and also an issue that’s important to the President that he’s actually taken action on,” She went on.

Fraudsters might be able to take advantage of this vulnerability Stealed According to a report, as high as $60 billion could be made from federal unemployment programs created by lockdown-era stimul bills. Report The Government Accountability Office. Other Estimates Fraud claimed that $400 billion (or half the total federal unemployment funds) was lost.

Su revealed to journalists two years back that “there is no sugarcoating the reality” According to a report, rampant fraud occurred in the Golden State. Report Los Angeles Times. “California has not had sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud, and criminals took advantage of the situation,” She added.

Su blamed the Trump administration officials for allegedly failing to provide sufficient guidance regarding the distribution of the resources. “It should be no surprise that EDD was overwhelmed, just like the rest of the nation’s unemployment agencies,” She went on. “And we now know that as millions of Californians applied for help, international and national criminal rings were at work behind the scenes working relentlessly to steal unemployment benefits using sophisticated methods of identity theft.”

Walsh, who served as Boston’s mayor, is leaving the Labor Department in order to lead the National Hockey League Players’ Association. His tenure was Be characterized Rail unions threatened to strike across the country ahead of the midterm elections. The Biden administration was forced to negotiate an agreement that would have granted workers raises and better health benefits.