Years after the passage of federal COVID-era relief and the subsequent loss of likely hundreds of billions of those taxpayer dollars, lawmakers are still unsure where that money went, how to get it back, and seemingly have done little to prevent it from happening again.
Federal watchdog and other reports estimate anywhere from $200 billion to half a trillion was lost to waste, fraud and abuse across various federal and state COVID-era programs.
“Insiders, including those who worked for state workforce agencies, conspired with organized crime factions and other individuals to defraud state UI programs and the states did little to stop them,” a Republican-led House Oversight Committee report released this week said. “Some states even hired individuals convicted of identity theft to process UI claims.”
Examples like that and the scope of the amount lost was the subject of a House Oversight hearing this week where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and experts grappled with the scope of the lost funds and what to do about it.
“The estimated amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse in COVID-related programs are simply … mind-boggling,” Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said at the hearing. “Half a trillion dollars. Maybe more. Much of it lost to criminal actors and our enemies. Often using comically simple tactics.” […]
— Read More: justthenews.com
Trump Denies “Fake News” Report on Changes to Economic Plans
by Publius
President-elect Donald Trump has refuted a Washington Post report suggesting his aides were considering a more restrained tariff policy. The report claimed that Trump’s transition team was contemplating a tariff plan that would be less extensive than his campaign promises, targeting only imports deemed critical to national or economic security….
Gold Breaks Out With Central Bank Surge and Interest Rate Drops Expected
by Sponsored Post
Precious metals are seeing gains once again following the post-election dip, just as many economists had expected. Even China, which had been holding back for five months, returned to purchasing massive quantities of gold. “Falling U.S. interest rates and ongoing solid demand from central banks are supporting the gold price,”…
JPMorgan: “Debasement Trade” Into Bitcoin and Gold Is Here to Stay
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—The so-called “debasement trade” into gold and Bitcoin is “here to stay” as investors brace for persistent geopolitical uncertainty, according to a Jan. 3 research note by JPMorgan shared with CoinTelegraph. Gold and BTC “appear to have become more important components of investors’ portfolios structurally” as they increasingly seek to…
Hochul to Increase Payments to a Program That Serves Illegals
by Independent Sentinel
Welfare champion Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has proposed a huge expansion of the state’s child tax credit. People here illegally can collect. New York is a one party state and Hochul runs it like a dictator. Hochul wants taxpayers to pay for an increase in the maximum credit…
More Details Emerge Regarding the Plan to Kill a Supreme Court Justice
by Zachary Stieber, The Epoch Times
(The Epoch Times)—A California man allegedly told authorities that he flew to the East Coast to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to newly filed court documents. Nicholas Roske flew across the country from California to Virginia on June 7, 2022, landing just before midnight. He got into a…
Kevin O’Leary Wants to Save TikTok by Buying It and Rewriting Its Algorithm
by The Blaze
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said that he was working on a deal to save the popular TikTok social media platform from being banned in the U.S. over privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers have banned TikTok from being used by state and federal employees after numerous reports that the platform collects…
AI Chatbots Credited With Surge in US Holiday Sales
by Valuetainment
AI-powered tools, particularly chatbots, significantly boosted online holiday sales in the US to $282 billion in 2024, a nearly 4% increase from the previous year, according to Salesforce. Globally, online sales reached $229 billion, up from $199 billion in 2023, as retailers utilized targeted promotions and personalized recommendations to attract…
Dana White Has Joined Meta’s Board of Directors
by Cactus Williams, Discern Report
UFC CEO and long-time friend of Donald Trump, Dana White, has joined Meta’s board of directors alongside Charlie Songhurst and John Elkann. This is just the latest in a series of decisions Meta has made following Trump’s historic electoral victory which seemed to be aimed at cozying up to the…
The Biggest Sale on Beef With 25-Year Shelf-Life EVER
by Sponsored Post
Let’s cut to the chase. Prepper All-Naturals is offering an unprecedented 40% off for its “Beef Steak” survival bags with promo code “steak40”. With a 25-year shelf life and a single ingredient (beef, of course), our most popular product is available for a very limited time with the biggest discount…
McDonald’s to Abandon Diversity ‘Goals’ in Hiring, to Stop Participating in Woke Non-Profit’s ‘Corporate Equality Index’
by The Post Millennial
Filmmaker and cultural commentator Robby Starbuck has gained another scalp in his effort to flip US corporations away from woke agendas focused on DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion. “BIG news,” Starbuck reported on X. “McDonald’s is ending a number of woke DEI policies today. Now let me tell you what’s…
