Ernst Decries Thousands of Federal Workers Who Fraudulently Received COVID Unemployment Checks

Thousands of federal workers applied for and received COVID-19-related unemployment benefits and continued getting their regular paychecks during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who’s calling for a federal investigation to identify the offenders and recover the tax dollars improperly paid to them.
“Staff from numerous government agencies, including the IRS, TSA [Transportation Security Administration], FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], the U.S. Postal Service, Amtrak, and the Secret Service, have been detected receiving jobless benefits while also being on the federal government’s payroll,” Ernst said in a Jan. 30 statement.
“Some were even paid overtime at the same time [they were] claiming to have lost wages due to the pandemic. Others were so blatant, they actually applied for jobless benefits from their work computers….}