OPINION:
At first, it didn’t sound right. Someone must have miscalculated. How could there be so much fraud that has robbed taxpayers of billions of dollars without anyone seeming to notice? Worse, it appears no one seemed to care.
Vice President JD Vance convened a meeting on Tuesday of his Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. Fifteen Republican attorneys general showed up. Almost two dozen Democratic attorneys general didn’t come, citing short notice. Their invitations went out on Friday, so they probably had a good excuse.
Mr. Vance urged all of them to help in rooting out more fraud than has so far been discovered. So many administrations have talked about fraud, but seemingly have done little about it — until now.
According to Mr. Vance, taxpayers across the country were defrauded of billions of dollars by unscrupulous scammers. The vice president said the number will likely be higher as investigations continue.
One optimistic note: Mr. Vance said $160 billion has been “clawed back,” which doesn’t always happen in such cases.
He also said that more than $22 billion has been recovered from small business loans and transferred to the Treasury Department. And that more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements has been recovered. As previously disclosed, these included fake hospice care facilities, many of which were in Los Angeles and other California cities.
Mr. Vance said, “We’ve recovered taxpayer funds from the $135 billion stolen after the floodgates were opened in the immediate aftermath of COVID.”
Mr. Vance announced that $6.3 billion has been recovered from fraudulent government contracts, most of which were given out during the Biden administration. Finally, Mr. Vance said the task force has blocked $60 million in student aid fraud.
Fraud is not a victimless crime, he went on, because it robs people who should be getting help, including needed medical aid.
The first question that should come to mind from these revelations and accusations is this: Where were the inspectors general in these states and at the federal level?
Why did no one appear to notice? Probably because it wasn’t their money being wasted. Look at the defensive posture of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. Both made initial statements that they knew nothing about the fraud in their state. They sounded like piano players in a brothel who claimed not to know what was going on upstairs.
The Department of Government Efficiency began to unveil some of this fraud, but it takes a much larger effort than Elon Musk and his crew of volunteers were able to achieve.
One other point: The fraudsters revealed a complete lack of conscience as they stole money that was supposed to help people, especially those in physical need. Is this another consequence of our failure in too many cases to impose a moral and ethical standard, beginning in schools?
An ancient proverb says: “Where there is no revelation (or vision), people cast off restraint.” (Proverbs 29:18)
It also makes one wonder whatever became of shame.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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