America has to move NOW to take back our country from the communists now controlling it. These REDS are in both parties - Republicans and Democrats alike support one-wordlism, racial quotas, rampant spending and government domination of our spirt. Here is but one example from the
Orange County Register:
Orange County, CA - The Government Accounting Office, which monitors how Washington manages tax money, has uncovered yet another expensive boondoggle amid the well-intentioned federal giveaway of billions of dollars, this time in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, serving 8.3 million U.S. households.
The program is supposed to provide low-income households "energy assistance," another way of saying government-subsidized air conditioning and heating. But the feds paid $116 million in subsidies to applicants who used 11,000 dead people's Social Security numbers, to 725 imprisoned convicts and to 1,100 well-paid – and ineligible – government workers.
The ultimate massive scale of these improper payments is only hinted at by the GAO's report. The audit covered seven states – Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey – and found evidence of fraud in each. Even so, the investigation found 9 percent of applications contained invalid information. If that rate is representative, the total dollar amount for all 50 states would be monumental.
The GAO also found that about 260,000 applications receiving benefits contained invalid identity information, such as blank Social Security numbers, names or dates of birth. Many inaccuracies may be typos or incomplete sections, "making it impossible to determine whether these cases involve fraud," the report said.

"Nonetheless, these applications pose a higher risk of fraud because there is no complete electronic record of beneficiaries' identities," said the report. In other words, if the applicants can't be checked, who knows whether they are valid?
Previous investigations, including audits of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, found that limited or nonexistent third-party information made validation impossible, leaving programs "vulnerable to substantial fraud."
About $3.9 million in subsidies were paid on applications submitted after the applicants had died. Another $370,000 was paid for people incarcerated, and, therefore ineligible, in the four states that provided reliable prison data.
Perhaps most incredibly, another $670,000 was paid to 1,100 federal employees whose income exceeded the amount to qualify for subsidies at the time of their application. One $840 payment was made to a Chicago-area Postal Service employee making $80,000 per year, who, like the others, exceeded the maximum income threshold.
According to the GAO, the unnamed woman claimed on her application that she had no income. But when pressed by GAO investigators, she admitted she wasn't entitled to the benefits, but wanted the handout anyway because: "Times are tough, and I needed the money." She also said that she saw "long lines" and wanted some "free money," CNSNews.com reported.
That, in a nutshell, explains how unaccountable federal programs spiral out of control, with millions in tax money doled out even to well-paid government workers if they merely decide "times are tough, and I needed the money." The GAO said that to cut down on fraud, the government needs to be more certain of applicants' eligibility. We say that to eliminate fraud, the government needs to get out of the business of redistributing taxpayers' money.
Comments
Government Freebies
The problem as I see it is that there is no accountability in these government handout programs. Even if the utility company does recieve the payments on behalf of the customers, the applicants need to be fully investigated for the neediness prior to providing the payments. If the recipiants of the payments lied on their application then I believe that would constitute fraud against the taxpayers as well as the government agency responsible for the payment and the reciepient of the assistance needs to be tried and if convicted be given the appropriate prison time, no matter if they are a government employee or not. This is sad, because it takes money away from truly needy people for greedy people who do make enough income to comfortably pay their bills. A system needs to be put in place so investigations into the applicants ability to pay can happen before the money is granted to the utility companies or in some states to the applicant themselves.
government-fraud-new-no-outrageous
Aren't most of those states ( Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey ) democrat??? In the state of KANSAS, the money is not paid directly to the applicant, but paid to the utilities. I guess those people who used false info have no reason to fear, since the punishment in this country is letting the top dogs go free or perhaps with just a slap on the hand and warning not to do that again?
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