A new Illinois Auditor General report shows the Illinois Department of Unemployment Security paid out $5.24 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims from 2020 to 2022.
The Pritzker administration ignored early warnings about security issues at IDES, as well as calls from the public and lawmakers to fix the problems within our state’s unemployment system. Failure to address these issues has cost Illinoisans dearly.
Those funds should have been used to help those in need during the pandemic, but instead they were paid out to fraudsters, incarcerated people, and even deceased individuals.
The people of Illinois deserve better. It’s time to get our state in order and give our citizens an effective and efficient state government today.