{"id":1828349,"date":"2023-01-30T08:04:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T13:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1828349"},"modified":"2023-01-30T08:10:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T13:10:24","slug":"your-taxes-paid-thousands-of-government-staff-covid-unemployment-while-they-worked-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/your-taxes-paid-thousands-of-government-staff-covid-unemployment-while-they-worked-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Taxes Paid Thousands Of Government Staff Covid Unemployment While They Worked From Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fyour-taxes-paid-thousands-of-government-staff-covid-unemployment-while-they-worked-from-home%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1828349&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>During the government-mandated lockdowns that left millions of Americans jobless, thousands of federal workers doubled their income from pandemic unemployment funds funded by taxpayers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/03\/13\/politics\/federal-telework-ramps-up-amid-worker-frustrations\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">While working mainly from home.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite staying on taxpayers\u2019 payroll during the height of the pandemic panic, greedy bureaucrats in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/five-current-or-former-irs-employees-charged-defrauding-federal-covid-19-relief-programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Internal Revenue Service<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-73-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Transportation Security Administration<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-73-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federal Emergency Management Agency<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/illinoisattorneygeneral.gov\/pressroom\/2022_06\/20220623c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United States Postal Service<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/amtrakoig.gov\/news\/investigations-press-release\/amtrak-oig-investigation-leads-indictment-former-amtrak-employee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amtrak<\/a>?, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-73-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Secret Service<\/a> Taxpayers were conned out of millions of dollars more by Covid&#8217;s unemployment fund and wage assistance programs.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Homeland Security provided lost wage assistance for nearly 2,000 eligible employees. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-73-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2022 DHSIG report discovered<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-69-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lax and rushed<\/a> Standards, \u201cclaimants only needed to self-certify they met eligibility requirements when they filed for [pandemic unemployment assistance] benefits,\u201d More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-09\/OIG-22-73-Sep22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$8.8 Million<\/a> Illegally, taxpayer funds were funneled towards 638 DHS employees. FEMA\u2019s state workforce agencies also paid out $1.2 million in \u201clost wages assistance\u201d To 935 DHS employees who were \u201cfully employed.\u201d During the approval period, at least 366 DHS officials who were not eligible were actually paid overtime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fema.gov\/disaster\/coronavirus\/governments\/supplemental-payments-lost-wages-guidelines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">You could receive up to hundreds of dollars per workweek in addition to your normal unemployment benefits<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Federal officials have committed an illegal grift \u201cfraudsters\u201d Attracted the attention of Republican Senator Joni Ernst and her January <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/622297599\/Sen-Joni-Ernst-January-2023-Squeal-Award\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cmake \u2018em squeal\u201d award<\/a>, a monthly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ernst.senate.gov\/priorities\/make-em-squeal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">effort<\/a> led by Ernst to expose government corruption and \u201cmake Washington more competent and less wasteful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThousands of active federal employees may have <em>falsely claimed<\/em> that they lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, in order to be paid twice by taxpayers:\u00a0Once for being employed and then again for pretending to be unemployed,\u201d Ernst explained in her squeal award announcement.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/former-federal-employee-pleads-guilty-2m-unemployment-benefits-fraud-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">already charged<\/a> several federal employees in other agencies with fraud, but the prolific behavior could earn more taxpayer-paid public staff the scrutiny of the top government watchdog, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, whom Ernst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/622282546\/Sen-Joni-Ernst-Letter-To-Inspector-General-Michael-Horowitz-Jan-27-2023?secret_password=ZMdlxvIsf9N4tUy9xDa5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently urged<\/a> to \u201cidentify how many federal employees applied for and received pandemic unemployment and lost wages\u00a0assistance for which they were not eligible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also called on the chief IG to recover the funds and fire those \u201cwho abused the public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is appalling for anyone fortunate enough to have the reliability of a government paycheck to take advantage\u00a0of financial assistance intended to provide a lifeline to Americans who lost their jobs or were unable to work as\u00a0a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Ernst wrote.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View Sen. Joni Ernst Letter To Inspector General Michael Horowitz- Jan. 27, 2023 on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/622282546\/Sen-Joni-Ernst-Letter-To-Inspector-General-Michael-Horowitz-Jan-27-2023#from_embed\">Sen. Joni Ernst Letter To I\u2026<\/a> by <a title=\"View The Federalist&#039;s profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/274202084\/The-Federalist#from_embed\">The Federalist<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), an oversight committee within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandemicoversight.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-12\/PRAC_Semiannual_Report_Sept_2022_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">determined<\/a> that \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of federal employees applied for and received Small Business Administration loans even though their status as government-employed disqualified them from taking the handout. <\/p>\n<p>Ernst, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, noted in her letter that the PRAC\u2019The investigation into loans continues and could lead to even more deception<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of federal employees double-dipped from taxpayer-funded pandemic unemployment funds while mostly working from home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":1828352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[4127,5045,9413,8037,10964,4286,4846],"class_list":["post-1828349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-covid","tag-government","tag-paid","tag-staff","tag-taxes","tag-thousands","tag-unemployment"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1828349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1828352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1828349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1828349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1828349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}