State House Unemployment Fraud Hearing

The State House of Representatives is looking into unemployment fraud. Representative Jason Woolford of Howell, also serving as chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on state and local public assistance programs joins us to discuss where fraud might be found. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we talked a lot about the President and Elon
Musk talking about waste and fraud that's happening at the
state level as well. And yesterday State Republicans held a
hearing on unemployment fraud. And let's get to the chair
of the Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Public Assistance Programs,

(00:22):
sponsor of HB four five one five, and Marine Corps
veteran representative Jason Wolfrid from Howell. Thank you so much
for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
All glad to be here, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
So talk to us a little bit about some conflicting
messages that Michigan residents are hearing. Democrats are saying, look out,
you could lose some vital services for some people that
desperately need them. Republicans are saying, you might know that
there's some fraud going on. So what do we know
about the unemployment system here in the state of Michigan

(00:56):
and fraud.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, absolutely, Well, first and foremost, me and my college
are not trying to strip away, but trying to improve.
And the argument that people are going to lose their benefits,
people that are signed up for these benefits and deserve
those benefits are going to continue to get them. However,
the gang syndicates and thieves and criminals that are frauding

(01:20):
our system. As an overall, as I oversee State and
Local Affairs Committee, we're looking into thirty two billion dollars
of our eighty four billion dollar budget for waste, fraud
and abuse, and I can promise you we are finding it,
and we're finding it across many avenues in different pods

(01:42):
of government assistance. So anyone regardless of whether they're eligible
for low income or whether they're actually applied for this
program as it relates to people that are stealing can
steal tax dollars for food and other resources and taking

(02:05):
away from the very people that deserve it, and or
the people who are trying to get on benefits but
can't get it because someone's stealing them.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
So, like, specifically, are these these aren't people that have
been on the rolls too long. These are people that
shouldn't be there in the first place.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, when you look at the bill that we introduced
and that I went before committee on yesterday, you're looking
at card that multiple programs are loaded up onto. Right.
These programs are called FAB, they're called FIP SNAP. All

(02:46):
of these are our words for basically, what used to
be food stamps are now uploaded onto a card. That
card has no picture of the individual that uses it
or the author i'd user to you, and it doesn't
even have chip technology, so it is a swipe card.

(03:07):
I was shown yesterday that you can buy a cloning
device for two hundred dollars. And this is how a
lot of these things are being stolen. A lot of
it relates to self attestation. In other words, you go
on to the benefits website and you just say, trust me,

(03:27):
this is who I am and what the issues are,
and you get benefits. And so that's got to stop.
And that's what this is going to help with. This
is going to help on the big picture. It's going
to have people come in to get their ID updated
and get a picture. So my question for those that

(03:49):
are against this, how many people that you think that
are defrauding to the amount of tens, if not hundreds
of millions of dollars on the state level, are going
to want to come in and get their picture taken? Right?

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, we will follow this story. We appreciate your time
this morning. Representative Jason Wolford from Howell, thanks for your
time today yes.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Sir, I just wanted to remind you that this legislation
sets up common sense guardrails to prevent excessive expenditures on
taxpayers money from government benefits, and we're looking forward to
defending and standing for the people that deserve these benefits,
but coming against those that are stealing them,