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Speaker 1: I know an inspector general. In fact, I know an

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Speaker 1: inspector general pretty well, and every time I ask him,

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Speaker 1: what do you do at work? He always says, seeking

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Speaker 1: out waste for aud abuse.

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Speaker 2: That's what inspector generals do.

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Speaker 1: That's what they do. And the US Labor Department's Office

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Speaker 1: of Inspector General says nearly one billion dollars in COVID

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Speaker 1: era unemployment benefits are still sitting unused, which means fraud. Right.

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Speaker 1: They loaded up a bunch of money on prepaid debit

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Speaker 1: cards to the tune of seven hundred and twenty million dollars,

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Speaker 1: and they issued those during the pandemic and they have.

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Speaker 2: Not been cashed.

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Speaker 1: So what's going on with that money? Accountability matters Now.

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Speaker 1: Lawmakers are going to have to reclaim all of these

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Speaker 1: unused funds and then tighten up all the eligibility verification.

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Speaker 2: So I am. I've read an incredible amount about this,

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Speaker 2: and I'm still a little bit confused because I wasn't

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Speaker 2: aware that if I applied for unemployment benefits, because this

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Speaker 2: is what we're talking about here, we're talking about COVID

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Speaker 2: era unemployment benefits. I didn't realize that if somebody applies

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Speaker 2: for unemployment benefits, that they are required to spend that

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Speaker 2: money or else the government can take it back. That

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Speaker 2: am I saying? Am I looking at this right? And

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Speaker 2: so in some states you can get your unemployment benefits

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Speaker 2: delivered on a prepaid debit card. And this is designed

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Speaker 2: for people that may not have bank accounts so that

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Speaker 2: they can still access that money. And about seven hundred

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Speaker 2: and twenty million dollars in covid era unemployment benefits are

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Speaker 2: sitting unused on prepaid debit cards. And now the government

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Speaker 2: is because you didn't spend that money. The government is

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Speaker 2: calling that fraud correct, and they want it back. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 2: maybe I understand it more than that I thought I did.

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Speaker 2: But I thought that regardless of whether or not I

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Speaker 2: need the money. Look if I apply for unemployment benefits.

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Speaker 2: Look if I've got a million dollars in the bank

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Speaker 2: and I get fired for my job, I can still

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Speaker 2: go apply for unemployment benefits, even though I might not

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Speaker 2: need that money. I can still apply and get those

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Speaker 2: unemployment benefits. And now the government is saying that you

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Speaker 2: have to spend those benefits or else we're going to

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Speaker 2: take it back. You're going to lose I guess he's Inspector.

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Speaker 1: General Anthony Desposito. He said the taxpayers could lose the

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Speaker 1: money unless action is taken, and the Office of the

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Speaker 1: Inspector General for the US Labor Department, they analyze six

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Speaker 1: and a half million prepaid cards which were used for

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Speaker 1: distributing benefits and not all of those cards have been used.

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Speaker 1: That to me, That to me says how much fraud

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Speaker 1: took place during COVID, that so many people applied they

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Speaker 1: actually didn't need that money.

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Speaker 2: Maybe maybe, And I look, I'm sure you're not using

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Speaker 2: it again. If I have a million dollars in the

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Speaker 2: bank and I get fired for my job, I can

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Speaker 2: find for unemployment. I don't have to need that money

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Speaker 2: to be able to get money from unemployment. And what's

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Speaker 2: frustrating about this is, look, I'm all for rooting out waste,

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Speaker 2: fraud and abuse, especially with our tax dollars and going

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Speaker 2: everywhere to get it. And we're talking about a billion

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Speaker 2: dollars here, but there is also an estimated one hundred

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Speaker 2: to one hundred and fifty billion dollars in unemployment benefits

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Speaker 2: that may be improper and fraudulent overall. So it seems

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Speaker 2: like focusing on this little slice of one billion dollars

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Speaker 2: on prepaid debit cards maybe is just the tip of

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Speaker 2: the iceberg, and maybe they should be spending some time

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Speaker 2: focusing on the one hundred billion dollars that aren't on

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Speaker 2: prepaid debit cards that may have a maybe more likelihood

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Speaker 2: of having waste, fraud and abuses socially well, I think.

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Speaker 1: The lesson here is also how much fraud, waste, and

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Speaker 1: abuse was going on during COVID. We're still hearing about it.

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Speaker 1: Twenty three hundred charges, eighteen hundred convictions related to pandemic

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Speaker 1: pandemic benefit fraud.

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Speaker 2: Look, absolutely, I'm sure there was tons of fraud associated

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Speaker 2: with it. The government should track all of that down,

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Speaker 2: you know, file criminal charges against the proper people that

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Speaker 2: did the waste, fraud and abuse and put them in

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Speaker 2: jail if that's what if that's where the court system

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Speaker 2: follows it. The other big takeaway for this in me

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Speaker 2: here is if you have a government account of anything,

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Speaker 2: and again, if you get a prepaid debit card from

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Speaker 2: the government, the government obviously still has electronic access to

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Speaker 2: that money. That's never your money. That's never your money.

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Speaker 2: So be careful about when the government has electronic access

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Speaker 2: to your accounts, and if the government gives you any

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Speaker 2: sort of money, like on a prepaid debit card, you

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Speaker 2: better spend it right away regardless, because they apparently have

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Speaker 2: the ability to take that away from you in the future.

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Speaker 1: You said it's not your money, well, in fact, it's

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Speaker 1: your neighbor's money, it's your brother's money, it's your sister's money,

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Speaker 1: it's everybody else's money. Because that money comes from the taxpayers.

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Speaker 1: It's just a redistribution of it fair.

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Speaker 2: But if it was given to me by the government

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Speaker 2: on a prepaid debit card and the government can then

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Speaker 2: take take it back, it was truly never my money

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Speaker 2: to begin with. Just like if I own my house.

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Speaker 2: If I own my house outright, I don't have a mortgage,

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Speaker 2: but I'm still paying property taxes. Do you truly own

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Speaker 2: your house? No, you don't.