Will County Gazette

Rep. Mark Batinick expressed worries about the huge number of fraudulent payments from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance fund.

Batinick has spoken out on the matter ever since the state audit came out that revealed almost $2 billion of the PUA fund that was intended to help the unemployed citizens of Illinois was given to fraud

"A recent audit has revealed that more than half of the $3.6 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance paid out in Illinois from July 2020 through June 2021 was tied to fraud," said Batinick.

Auditor General Frank Mautino released a report last week that found that out of the $3.6 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments that Illinois sent out between July 2020 and June 2021, more than half were fraudulent, Illinois Newsroom reported. Almost $2 billion worth of payments were sent to scammers. 

"Overpayments associated with identity theft and traditional fraud within the PUA program was unprecedented and resulted in fraudsters using highly sophisticated techniques to take advantage of the current economic condition created by the COVID-19 pandemic," the audit stated. 

Up to $163 billion is estimated to have been part of identity theft nationwide. 

“The Pritzker administration and IDES have refused to disclose the extent to which fraud affected our unemployment system and this audit makes it abundantly clear why,” said Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield).

After Gov. Pritzker ordered businesses to shut down in the spring of 2020, Illinois saw a huge spike in unemployment claims, which, in turn, led to the accumulation of billions of dollars of unemployment debt, the Center Square reported. Although Illinois put some federal relief funds towards paying down the debt, there is still a remaining balance of around $1.8 billion accruing interest. On the other hand, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services mentioned that it has been able to claim back $398 million in unemployment benefits from fraudsters to date. 

“Criminals hit Ohio and the rest of the nation hard with fraudulent claims, taking taxpayer dollars and slowing efforts to get money to those in need,” ODJFS Director Matt Damschroder said. “The recovery of these funds is proof that Ohio continues to collect taxpayer dollars and pursue every avenue to give victims of identity theft justice.”

House Republicans supported using federal relief dollars to pay off the debt in its entirety. Illinois received more than $8 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021, according to NBC. But Republicans who stood against the motion questioned why money from the ARPA was not being utilized to help those businesses whose workers are the potential future beneficiaries.