US Senator Bill Cassidy is ready to go all out after he discovers that there are some discrepancies concerning the money paid into the account of the central state pension fund. This money was part of the $90 billion set aside for the Teamster union members and retirees.
Now Senator Bill Cassidy is demanding that the overpaid amount of $127 million taxpayers dollars paid out to nearly 3,500 dead people through the Democrats’ pension ‘bailout be returned.
The Rescue Plan Act
We all know how the whole world was saddled with financial crises in the year 2020, all because of the pandemic. Many countries tried their best to figure out the possible ways to help their citizens survive these hard times.
The United States in its aim to help its citizens signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Through this act, they were going to provide direct economic stimulus payments for individual taxpayers who had $75,000 income or less.
The Law Gave Powers To The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
After the bill was passed into law, they needed a body that would be responsible for dispensing this money to the citizens making sure that it was used for the purposes it was created for.
The law then authorized the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to provide billions of dollars for the well-being of the citizens. They were to provide billions of bailout funding to pensioners all over the nation.
Money Was Paid To Dead Applicants
Louisiana Lawmaker Bill Cassidy has cried out to the public regarding the massive payout from the account of the Central State Pension Fund to people who should no longer exist on the country’s database.
He is baffled as to why a large number of dead Americans have been found to have received millions in Special Financial Assistance (SFA) which was created by the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan that was passed into law in 2021 by Joe Biden.
Cassidy Is Asking For A Refund
The top Republican needs answers and to get the answers Senator Bill Cassidy is ready to go to any lengths to fish them out. He needs an explanation as to why that huge amount of money went to dead individuals.
He has sent out a letter to the Central State Pension Fund demanding that they return all the excess money they received. If an explanation can not be given, then it is only right that they return the sum sent back to the country.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Did Not Do Its Job
The fact that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has been bestowed with the privilege to provide funding to pensioners nationwide, it is expected of them to do the bare minimum and conduct proper research on the names submitted by the central State Pension Fund.
However, it looks like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation failed to properly double-check the names submitted.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Did Not Notice
The Louisiana lawmaker Senator Cassidy wrote to the Central States Executive Director Thomas Nyhan, that the lack of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to properly cross-check has caused them to miss this vital information.
He believes that this is the reason why they were not able to notice the 3,479 dead people that were included in the list of the Central State Pension Funds’ State Financial Assistance bailout application.
PBGC Review Process Does Not Require Cross-Checking
According to the statement released by the PBGC OIG, he stated that reviewing and cross-checking the plans participant list was not part of their review process.
They had nowhere in their powers to do a cross-check of the list with their Social Security Administration and Full Death Master File. However, this appears to be false because the cross-checking process was recommended to them as a standard procedure by the Government Accountability Office.
The PBGC Approved A Total Of $35.8 Billion
To continue to fund the citizens of the United States, the Central State applied for taxpayer-funded bailout money that amounted to a total of $35.8 Billion. The PBGC approved in full without trying to confirm the names of those on the list.
It was after this payout that Lawmaker Bill Cassidy found out that the Central State either intentionally or mistakenly included 3,479 applicants to get these payouts.
The Central States Have Refused To Return This Overpaid Balance
Despite Senator Bill’s request to the central state that the taxpayers’ dollars that were wrongfully sent to the dead applicants be returned.
The central state officials have refused to return them. However, they did acknowledge that the only reason they received it was because they had unknowingly dead participants on their active roster which was not in any way intentional.
The American Rescue Plan Was Not The Only Covid-era legislation
People were struggling during the pandemic and the government had no choice but to establish various legislations that would help alleviate their problems.
The sad part is that, while the country was actively working to make things better for its citizens, the committee authorized to be in charge we’re busy awarding these taxpayers’ dollars to dead people.
The Treasury Department Was One Of Them
Reports state that the treasury department also sent out over $1.4 billion of stimulus payments to dead individuals who were still active on the roster.
The Government Accountability Office reported that by April 30 2020 the treasury department had sent millions of checks to dead people.
Most Of These Funds Were Lost To Fraudsters
There’s no way one can account for money paid into the accounts of people who no longer have legal capacity. At the end of the day, these funds become unaccountable as though it was a deliberate attempt to siphon money.
According to a further 2023 analysis from the Associated Press, they found out that approximately $400 billion of these COVID aids were either lost to fraudsters or were just wasted.
They Have An Ultimatum
Senator Cassidy is no longer in for any form of back-and-forth. The only things he requests from the central state are answers and their swift repayment of the wrongfully paid pension funds.
Source: Chip Somodevilla
The lawmaker has requested that by no later than March 11th, he wants his answers ready. He needs to know whether the pension will be ready to refund the taxpayers or not.
