WASHINGTON-Subcommittee on Government Operations Ranking Member Jody Hice (R-Ga.) opened today’s hearing by emphasizing the need for Congress to understand the reason state and local IT systems failed during the pandemic and how existing funds are being used to update these systems to enhance cybersecurity and reduce fraud. He pointed to the fact $400 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits were lost, with as much as half being stolen by international criminal organizations, and urged the committee to investigate this mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.
Subcommittee Ranking Member Hice also voiced frustration with the federal government failing the American people not due to their IT systems, but due to the fact many federal workers have yet to return to in-person work regardless of the fact it is safe to do so. Before the Biden Administration expands telework any further, Hice has called for inspectors general to assess how this would impact the American people.
Below are the remarks as prepared.
Chairman Connolly, I would like to thank you for calling this hearing.
It’s important to understand the situation of state and local information technology systems given the role they play in distributing federal assistance and services.
As we saw in the early stages of the pandemic response, some systems simply could not keep up with demand. We need to understand what has been done in the interim to address that situation.
But, let me be clear, as we look for next steps, it is my firm conviction that additional federal funding should not be the default answer. States, localities, territories, and tribes have received half a trillion dollars so far in COVID relief.
State tax receipts did not take the nose-dive that many people said would happe-in fact in half the states, revenues increased.
The American Rescue Plan included $2 billion for unemployment insurance system modernizations, so there’s plenty of funding out there.
What needs to happen is for states to properly emphasize information technology and cybersecurity in their budgets, and, more importantly, they need to take steps to reduce fraud.
There are estimates that as much as $400 billion was lost to unemployment fraud. That’s a staggering amount of money.
$400 billion dollars.
That’s half of all unemployment funds-stolen, and likely stolen by criminal actors in China, Nigeria, Russia-who knows where else. That’s $400 billion that’s gone.
Who needs to bother with corporate espionage and intellectual property theft when you can just take the cash right out of America’s pocket?
There’s no excuse-from my perspective-why this Committee hasn’t held one hearing on the massive waste, fraud, and abuse that has risen to the point of a national security issue.
I appreciate our witnesses appearing here today, and I am eager to hear from them, but this Committee needs to do its job and focus specifically on finding out how much money was lost and who took it.
Earlier I mentioned systems that weren’t able to keep up with demand when Americans needed help. I can only imagine the extreme frustration of trying to apply for benefits, only to be unable to access the system.
I was just speaking briefly with the Chairman beforehand. This is a common problem. I don’t know that there is any Member of Congress who didn’t hear from constituents about this type of frustration.
I am confident that many others have also heard from constituents who are unable to get help from government workers simply because they were not at work. Now we have the Biden Administration making telework and remote work one of their top priorities for their return-to-work plans, so return-to-work by not returning to work. This is problematic.
Before we look at any permanent policy of this nature, we owe it to the American people to fully understand the impact that this type of policy will have on the American people.
We reached out to inspectors general across federal agencies for an assessment about what can be anticipated with this kind of policy. We need to know. These are serious questions.
In order to make good policy, we have to have good information from all sides of an issue, so that’s yet another hearing I believe we desperately need to have.
In closing, I again appreciate our witnesses for being here today. I hope we learn something about one facet of the post-pandemic situation, but certainly there are many others that demand our attention and I think they can no longer ignore.
