When Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) asked if any of the three expert witnesses testifying before a congressional panel on Feb. 1 could name a single government director or supervisor who has been fired or demoted as a result of the estimated $500 billion lost to waste, fraud, and abuse in pandemic relief spending, none of them could do so.
Boebert was followed by freshman Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who told the witnesses he was “shocked to learn when preparing for this hearing that many of the COVID benefits, or at least some of them, were available on a self-certifying basis.“ Goldman, who prosecuted multiple cases of mortgage fraud during and following the 2008 economic crisis, called the government allowing benefit applicants to self-certify their eligibility ”a recipe for fraud.”
