McLean County Times

Illinois State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) is calling for action from his fellow lawmakers after an audit revealed almost $2 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits were paid out during the pandemic. 

Caulkins denounced the fraudulent payouts by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and asked for hearings to get answers, a recent news release from his office said.

"This was pure negligence to pay out $1.8 billion dollars in fraudulent claims," he said in the release. "The House of Representatives must immediately convene legislative hearings to show us where the money went and come up with a solution to ensure this does not happen again." 

In the release, Caulkins added that he had been asking IDES how fraudulent claims were being handled since the very beginning of the global health crisis but had received only excuses instead of answers. He noted that now they know the State "did a horrible job and it's worse than we anticipated." 

Caulkins said the hearings are necessary so that lawmakers can learn how this happened and where the money went.

The audit into IDES revealed that although there were several attempts made to keep accurate information, the agency failed to maintain complete records on pandemic unemployment claimant data. It also found that of the $3.6 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds paid out between July 2020 and June 20201, almost $1.9 billion had ties to fraud. 

Even in June of last year, Caulkins was shedding light on how bad the fraud was and demanding answers. In a tweet, he questioned how fraudulent claims were paid out quickly while Illinoisans desperate for help couldn't get through to the agency on the phone, a report from the Chambana Sun said.