State Representative Mike Coffey (R-Springfield) responds to recent news of Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) fraud. The Illinois Auditor General recently revealed that the State of Illinois carelessly paid out over $5 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims over a two-year period. To make matters worse, this estimate is expected to rise according to other auditors who still have reports to analyze.
“Taxpayers should be outraged over the lack of oversight from the IDES and their failure to recognize fraud,” Coffey stated. “Hard-working constituents and businesses deserve answers from this administration as their tax dollars continue to be abused.”
House Republicans have repeatedly called for reforms at the IDES to fix the broken system that lacks standard protocol to identify red flags that point to fraud. Like clockwork, our side of the aisle was shut out from discussion and our concerns were swept away by this administration.
Illinois needs leadership that takes action to mend known problems within state agencies. These failures come with an expensive price tag and cannot continue to be stifled.