Sen. Marsha Blackburn said government fraud and improper payments are draining hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars annually, citing Government Accountability Office estimates that she said reveal a systemic failure across federal programs nationwide.
In remarks focused on federal spending oversight, Blackburn said the scope of fraud extends far beyond any single state and represents a nationwide problem affecting virtually every major entitlement program.
“We know that this issue goes far from Minnesota and into every corner of the country and the Government Accountability Office and this report, I think, is significant,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn cited a GAO report estimating massive annual losses tied to fraudulent activity within government programs.
“It estimates that each year, each and every year that our government is losing between 233,000,000,520 $1 billion to fraud, fraudulent programs, fraudulent claims,” she said.
“So, think about that.”
She described those losses as the result of deliberate misconduct by individuals and organizations seeking to exploit taxpayer-funded systems.
Hellbound and Down 