The Biden-Harris administration is making headlines for reaching a staggering milestone: improper payments are set to exceed $1 trillion during their four-year term. This alarming figure comes from a recent report by OpenTheBooks.com, highlighting how much taxpayer money has been wasted. Improper payments refer to funds sent by the federal government that end up in the wrong hands, for incorrect reasons, or in incorrect amounts. Between 2021 and 2023, these mistakes have already totaled over $800 billion when adjusted for inflation. To put this into perspective, that’s about $450,000 wasted every single minute. In the time it takes to read this sentence—roughly five seconds—the government will have squandered an eye-popping $37,500 on erroneous payments.
Among the most significant culprits of these improper payments are Medicaid and Medicare, which accounted for nearly half of all mistakes last year. Yet the problem doesn’t stop there; issues were found across various programs. For instance, deceased individuals received a shocking $295 million in pension benefits intended for former federal workers who had passed away. Additionally, prisoners were mistakenly paid around $171 million as well. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also played its part by disbursing an astounding $25 billion in fraudulent and mistaken tax credits, with some IRS programs reporting mistake rates exceeding 30%.
This isn’t just a new issue; it has become increasingly problematic over time. During Barack Obama’s second term, roughly 4% of his spending was wasted on improper payments. Donald Trump saw that number rise slightly to around 5%, and now under Biden’s leadership, we’re approaching a troubling rate of nearly 6%. The trend raises serious questions about fiscal responsibility and accountability within our government.
Interestingly enough, even members of the Democratic Party in California are recognizing the severity of this issue. A bipartisan initiative known as the “Improper Payments Transparency Act” has gained traction with support from lawmakers like Reps. Jimmy Panetta and Scott Peters. This legislation aims to require the president’s budget to outline specific strategies for reducing these improper payments.
Even within Biden’s own administration there have been concerns voiced regarding financial oversight. When additional funding was allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency through the Inflation Reduction Act, Inspector General Sean O’Donnell warned Congress that spending such a large sum—$27 billion—in just one year would likely lead to payment errors due to insufficient oversight measures in place.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) expressed her shock upon learning about these findings when she responded to OpenTheBooks.com’s research shared by The Washington Times: “Goodness, that was more than I thought.” Meanwhile, some lawmakers are questioning whether it’s fair for residents who receive overpayments only to be asked to return those funds later on after they’ve already spent them. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) articulated this concern clearly: “Our residents after they made the mistake and they get the letter in a year—that’s not fair… They don’t deserve to be punished.”
As Congress continues its trend toward ever-growing budgets filled with wasteful spending practices like these improper payments, many citizens wonder how long this can go on without significant reform or accountability measures being put into place.
What do you think about these alarming figures? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Source: Steadfast Nation
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