COVID relief bill and the "missing 91%"

[andydp]

I'm sure you've heard it all by now: "Only 9% is earmarked for COVID.  The rest is pork"

Harking back to The Carson Show:  "Not so fast man in the moon breath."

From the article:

No. While a very small part of the bill is actually labeled for things like COVID testing, protective gear, treatments, vaccines and distribution, a large portion of the bill goes to stimulus programs addressing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which itself has been highly critical of the bill, estimates a little more than 15% of the package “is spent on long-standing policy priorities that are not directly related to the current crisis.”

That would mean almost 85% of the bill’s funding is toward projects related to COVID relief, a far cry from the 9% made in claims.


www.wkyc.com/article/news/verify/covid-relief-bill/507-1af72abc-696c-408c-afae-034b5692d10d

[Bact PhD]

Some time back, I was listening to a podcast (Hanauer, maybe?) and the take was that to refer to it as “economic stimulus” per se was really a bit of a misnomer—the more accurate description is to refer to it as “disaster relief,” except rather than affecting just one geographical area, this disaster impacted the entire USA.

[LFC]

Mar 11, 2021 1:10:10 GMT andydp said:

I'm sure you've heard it all by now: "Only 9% is earmarked for COVID.  The rest is pork"

My kneejerk reaction to that the instant I read it was "Well, that's a lie." This is where some might say, "Shouldn't you research it first?" I now just answer "Nope!" That may have been true at one time but it's been so long since the Republican Party or the American right wing has put forth a good faith argument that there's no reason to give them any benefit of the doubt. The "Shouldn't this be looked into?" concern trolling has been a mainstay of the right-wing climate deniers for at least 30 years. When one side is wrong over and over and over and over again then no, there's no reason to waste my time. You're either a liar, stupid, or both. I don't have the inclination to find yet another debunking of this new "data" after the first 100+ have fallen flat.

[LFC]

Republicans continue shamelessly trying to take credit for the COVID relief bill they voted against.

The proud tradition of Republican lawmakers touting provisions of the American Rescue Plan that they voted against continues this week.

One entry comes courtesy of a lawmaker with a rather high-profile sibling: Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN), brother of former Vice President Mike Pence.

“Help is on the way” Greg Pence tweeted Wednesday, flanking his tweet with siren emojis.

Pence, like every other Republican in the entirety of Congress, voted against the bill that included the restaurant revitalization funds.

“We consistently direct constituents to information they may find useful,” Hannah Osantowske, Pence’s communications director, told TPM. “Congressman Pence is always looking for a silver lining hiding in a big lump of shit if it helps out his constituents.”

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) joined the exclusive club Wednesday as well, advertising the same provision of the law.

[LFC]

Half-wit Kevin McCarthy gets to screech about the evils of the socialism that his district has overwhelmingly been taking advantage of.

After months of his labeling President Biden's spending programs as "socialism," a Washington Post analysis has found that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's constituents "are among those who have benefited most from the very programs he's decried."

"An unusually large share of children in McCarthy's district stand to benefit from the expanded child tax credit included in the American Rescue Plan he opposed — more than 93 percent, the seventh-highest proportion in California," according to figures reviewed by The Post.

McCarthy's region has been among the slowest to recover from COVID lockdowns, and his constituents have also greatly benefited from stimulus checks sent out under the American Rescue Plan, along with other COVID relief measures.

"I think it's very unfortunate that McCarthy continues to reject these proposals that can help millions of people here in his backyard here in the Central Valley," California Assemblyman Rudy Salas told the Post. "I would plead to Congressman McCarthy to not forget his constituents, not forget California families, Central Valley families, when looking at these proposals."

[LFC]

Up to half of COVID unemployment benefits may have been stolen.

Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say.

Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates — making this not just theft, but a matter of national security.

Catch up quick: When the pandemic hit, states weren't prepared for the unprecedented wave of unemployment claims they were about to face.

- They all knew fraud was inevitable, but decided getting the money out to people who desperately needed it was more important than laboriously making sure all of them were genuine.

By the numbers: Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me, a service that tries to prevent this kind of fraud, tells Axios that America has lost more than $400 billion to fraudulent claims. As much as 50% of all unemployment monies might have been stolen, he says.

- Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, estimates that at least 70% of the money stolen by impostors ultimately left the country, much of it ending up in the hands of criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere.

- "These groups are definitely backed by the state," Talcove tells Axios.

- Much of the rest of the money was stolen by street gangs domestically, who have made up a greater share of the fraudsters in recent months.

What they're saying: “Widespread fraud at the state level in pandemic unemployment insurance during the previous Administration is one of the most serious challenges we inherited," said White House economist Gene Sperling.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 10, 2021 20:56:37 GMT LFC said:

Up to half of COVID unemployment benefits may have been stolen.

Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say.

Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates — making this not just theft, but a matter of national security.

Catch up quick: When the pandemic hit, states weren't prepared for the unprecedented wave of unemployment claims they were about to face.

- They all knew fraud was inevitable, but decided getting the money out to people who desperately needed it was more important than laboriously making sure all of them were genuine.

By the numbers: Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me, a service that tries to prevent this kind of fraud, tells Axios that America has lost more than $400 billion to fraudulent claims. As much as 50% of all unemployment monies might have been stolen, he says.

- Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, estimates that at least 70% of the money stolen by impostors ultimately left the country, much of it ending up in the hands of criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere.

- "These groups are definitely backed by the state," Talcove tells Axios.

- Much of the rest of the money was stolen by street gangs domestically, who have made up a greater share of the fraudsters in recent months.

What they're saying: “Widespread fraud at the state level in pandemic unemployment insurance during the previous Administration is one of the most serious challenges we inherited," said White House economist Gene Sperling.

There was a cost/benefit analysis done here. And I agree getting money into people's hands was more important than worrying about fraud.  Too bad our law enforcement types seem unequal to the task of tracking the professional criminals.   They work far more quickly than your basic two bit individual thief trying to make a quick buck.  It's why I laugh at the thought of all the "proof" a TANF recipient must show and reshow to get anything.  Watch the pennies while the $1000 bills fly out the back door.

[pnwguy]

Jun 10, 2021 23:37:10 GMT goldenvalley said:

There was a cost/benefit analysis done here. And I agree getting money into people's hands was more important than worrying about fraud.  Too bad our law enforcement types seem unequal to the task of tracking the professional criminals.   They work far more quickly than your basic two bit individual thief trying to make a quick buck.  It's why I laugh at the thought of all the "proof" a TANF recipient must show and reshow to get anything.  Watch the pennies while the $1000 bills fly out the back door.

Of course, the Dumpster Administration would have been the one to monitor and prosecute these criminals, so that's on par with IRS auditing.  Look the other way when it comes to "businesses".  

[goldenvalley]

And now we learn about the .  I bring this up not to repeat the old trope that government can't do anything right, but to point out that some of the private companies that formed around this program were, shall we say, not interested in the intent of the program.

“The faster the better,” the workers were told at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, as the little-known financial technology company Blueacorn raced to review small businesses that sought federal loans.

Speeding through applications, Blueacorn employees and contractors allegedly began to overlook possible signs of fraud, according to interviews and communications later amassed by investigators on Capitol Hill. The company weighed whether to prioritize “monster loans that will get everyone paid,” as the firm’s co-founder once said. And investigators found that Blueacorn collected about $1 billion in processing fees — while its operators may have secured fraudulent loans of their own.
The allegations against Blueacorn and several other firms are laid out in a sprawling, roughly 120-page report released Thursday by the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a congressional watchdog tasked to oversee roughly $5 trillion in federal pandemic aid. The 18-month probe — spanning more than 83,000 pages of documents, and shared in advance with The Washington Post — contends there was rampant abuse among a set of companies known as fintechs, which jeopardized federal efforts to rescue the economy and  siphoned off public funds for possible private gain.

Now I don't expect much from a program that was thrown together quickly and supposed to be administered by the Small Business Administration which has always seemed a bit useless due to lack of funding.  But as someone closely involved with a small nonprofit that desperately needed PPP and struggled to find funders, the following makes me angry:

Fintech companies including Blueacorn, Womply and Kabbage were supposed to serve as middlemen — helping applicants complete paperwork and processing their requests for aid on behalf of banks and other large financial institutions. In some cases, though, the digital firms instead became vectors for the worst waste, fraud and abuse, according to congressional investigators led by Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), the panel’s chair.

At Blueacorn, for example, loan reviewers tied to the company told the select committee they were pressured to “push through” PPP applications even if they seemed suspicious. The company was especially interested in processing high-dollar applications, the report stated, even creating a special, internal “VIPPP” label to ensure the biggest borrowers — which carried the promise of great fees — could receive expedited treatment.

The approach may have cost the government, though House investigators could not compute a final sum. It also came at the expense of smaller borrowers arguably in the greatest need, according to the report. As one Blueacorn co-founder, Stephanie Hockridge, appeared to remark over the messaging service Slack about these applicants: “who f----- cares.”

I continue to believe that the overall concept of the PPP loans was valid, but it annoys me that private entities are unethical in their handling of it at the expense of many businesses.  It further annoys me that certain politicians will ignore the private entity culpability and will tout this as a failure of government alone. 

[jackd]

Large amounts of money appropriated in crisis or emergency situations are always targets for the unscrupulous and the government rarely seems to have the personnel or competence to guard against them. Clinton wasn't wrong about "welfare queens' but they were small timers compared to the corporate thieves.

[goldenvalley]

Dec 1, 2022 20:26:26 GMT jackd said:

they were small timers compared to the corporate thieves.

I will never understand the small mindedness of people...literally small.  They understand the concept of a single person cheating, but they cannot get their brains around organized large scale theft.  Somehow it's just not real to people so they don't get upset by it.  And/or they sort of admire it and blame the victims for allowing themselves to get ripped off.  

[LFC]

Dec 1, 2022 18:08:01 GMT goldenvalley said:

I continue to believe that the overall concept of the PPP loans was valid, but it annoys me that private entities are unethical in their handling of it at the expense of many businesses.  It further annoys me that certain politicians will ignore the private entity culpability and will tout this as a failure of government alone. 

Massive failure in the implementation of a government program? Handing out cash to rich people without oversight? Actually be in government, screw up, and then blame "the government?" It's the Republican way!