Macon Reporter

After an audit revealed Illinois paid nearly $2 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, state Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) is demanding action from the Legislature. 

In a recent news release from his office, Caulkins condemned the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) for paying out the fraudulent claims.

"This was pure negligence to pay out $1.8 billion dollars in fraudulent claims," Caulkins said in the release. "The House or 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."

Caulkins said that from the beginning he questioned how IDES was dealing with fraudulent claims, but he got excuses instead of answers. He added that the results of the audit made it clear the State did a terrible job in handling the issue, and "it's worse that we anticipated." Caulkins stressed that he wants answers from IDES, including how and where the money went. 

The audit found that the State agency failed to keep accurate and complete pandemic unemployment assistance claimant data, and that a number of efforts were made to try to make sure the information was accurate. The audit nevertheless revealed that nearly $1.9 billon of the $3.6 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds paid out between July 2020 and June 2021 were tied to fraud.

Even last year, Caulkins wanted answers about the fraud. He took to social media, where he criticized IDES for quickly processing fraudulent claims but failing to answer calls from Illinoisans who were desperate for help, a report from the Chambana Sun said.