Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) have initiated an investigation in response to reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) improperly allocated COVID-19 relief funds intended to assist low-income hospitals. In an April 11 letter (pdf) to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Republican…

A federal department responsible for handing out financial benefits to Canadians who stopped working during the COVID-19 pandemic has fired 49 of its own staff who applied for and received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) while they were still employed. Testifying before the Commons public accounts committee on Jan. 2, Mary Crescenzi, assistant deputy…

A federal department responsible for handing out financial benefits to Canadians who stopped working during the COVID-19 pandemic has fired 49 of its own staff who applied for and received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) while they were still employed. Testifying before the Commons public accounts committee on Jan. 2, Mary Crescenzi, assistant deputy…

The Supreme Court refused on Jan. 17 to take up an appeal by Missouri challenging a ban on states using federal pandemic-relief funds to offset state revenue reductions, such as those attributed to tax cuts or other policy changes. The decision is a victory for the Biden administration, which had urged the court to deny…

Five former and current employees of the IRS have been charged with schemes to defraud COVID-19 relief measures like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The two programs were federal stimulus initiatives authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Court documents…

The federal government has so far recovered about a third of the roughly $3 billion in COVID-19 relief benefits paid to ineligible people, the cabinet disclosed in records submitted to the House of Commons. In an Inquiry of Ministry, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, the cabinet said notices have been sent to roughly 1.7 million Canadians…

Illinois police have arrested 15 people after an investigation found they allegedly applied for and received multiple Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, which they then used to bail themselves out of jail. In total, 25 people were discovered to have been part of the alleged fraud, according to Fox 32 Chicago. At the time of…

House Republicans on the Oversight and Reform Committee and the Education and Labor Committee are looking into the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds at schools, specifically in funding divisive racial teachings like critical race theory (CRT). Congress created the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to ensure that schools reopened safely and addressed…

LOS ANGELES—Two apartment owner groups filed court papers on March 7 challenging Los Angeles County’s pandemic-related eviction moratorium, which provides extended protections beginning next month for tenants who fail to pay rent. The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles and the Apartment Owners Association of California brought the still unofficial legal action in Los Angeles…

Labor unions and related organizations took in $36.7 million in federal taxpayer funds through the Paycheck Protection Program for which they were legally ineligible, according to a new report from the Freedom Foundation. Legislation creating the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, as part of the Coronavirus…