Carbondale Reporter

The Pritzker administration has been under fire from Republicans for how the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) handled things during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a July 28 Facebook post, Rep. Paul Jacobs criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker after a report revealed how much the agency overpaid due to fraudulent claims.

“The shocking results of this IDES audit are just one example of Pritzker’s failure to manage state agencies, something that taxpayers will repeatedly pay the price for,” Jacobs wrote in his post.

Jacobs also shared a Fox News story about the situation, which highlighted the “overpayments”– approximately $5.2 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.

“Of the $5.2 billion, the Illinois Department of Employment Security overpaid by about $2 billion for regular unemployment insurance and by $3.2 billion for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) put in place following the outbreak of COVID,” Fox News reported. “Overall, $2.8 billion has been classified as identity theft – money not considered recoverable since it can't be collected from the identity theft victim. According to the audit, only about a 10th of the total $5.2 billion has been recovered.”

Jacobs issued a statement on July 28 calling for accountability.

“These reports of fraud, mismanagement, abuse, and outright incompetence at IDES during the height of the pandemic need further investigation,” he said. “This is no small issue, like a decimal point being in the wrong place on a government report. This is $5 Billion in fraud against our taxpayers. The size and scope of the abuse at the Department of Employment Security require accountability at the highest levels of government.”

Jacobs was elected to the Illinois House in January 2021 and serves on the Tourism and Higher Education committees, according to his representative biography page.

In June, a bill that extends the timeframe under which individuals who committed fraudulent activities during the COVID-19 pandemic can be prosecuted was signed into law, according to the Illinois General Assembly. The legislation goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.