Federal officials made more than $247 billion in improper payments in 2022, with more than half of the total—$132.4 billion—coming in five major Medicare/Medicaid programs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a June 2023 analysis by nonprofit government watchdog Open The Books (OTB). OTB, which is based in Illinois, specializes…

Federal officials made more than $247 billion in improper payments in 2022, with more than half of the total—$132.4 billion—coming from five major Medicare/Medicaid programs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a June analysis by nonprofit government watchdog Open The Books (OTB). The $247 billion for 2022 was the second-highest…

Hundreds of millions of American tax dollars went to recipients in China and Russia in recent years without being properly tracked by the federal government, including a grant that enabled a state-run Russian lab to test cats on treadmills, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Ernst and her staff investigators, working with auditors at the…

Hundreds of millions of American tax dollars went to recipients in China and Russia in recent years without being properly tracked by the federal government, including a grant that enabled a state-run Russian lab to test cats on treadmills, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Ernst and her staff investigators, working with auditors at the…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is congressionally mandated to spend $32 million each day for the next 1,261 days to “exhaust” nearly $500 billion before a Sept. 30, 2026, deadline authorized under four Biden administration economic stimulus bills adopted since 2021. Two bills don’t include funding for compliance assurance, while the other two earmark…

More than $56 million in Department of Energy (DOE) grants to 60 for-profit recipients—including billions of dollars under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act—are not being audited as required by federal law because DOE isn’t obtaining regular reports on how the money is being spent, according to a government watchdog. “We found that [DOE’s Office…

Federal employees who fraudulently applied for and received COVID-19 pandemic unemployment insurance benefits while also drawing government paychecks will be referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution, according to a waste, fraud, and abuse watchdog. Asked by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) “how is it even possible that there is nothing in place to…

A round-robin series of crucial last-minute decisions by senators anxious to wrap up their work before Christmas resulted in a decisive 68–29 vote to approve the controversial $1.85 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the federal government open well into the New Year. The vote represented a big win for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer…

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) gave her final Squeal Award of 2022 to President Joe Biden for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) grant to an obscure group that rates U.S. media outlets and individuals on social media on the basis of how strongly they back federal policies. “The Biden administration is paying more than $5 million…

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) gave her final Squeal Award of 2022 to President Joe Biden for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) grant to an obscure group that rates U.S. media outlets and individuals on social media on the basis of how strongly they back federal policies. “The Biden administration is paying more than $5 million…