Federal government wasted $683 million per day in fiscal year 2022—totaling $247 billion—after losing $281 billion in 2021, reports OpentheBooks.com.
(The Center Square) – The federal government wasted over a half a trillion dollars in improper payments during the first two years of the Biden administration, a new analysis from a spending watchdog group found.
The analysis comes from Open The Books, which reports that 82 programs across 17 agencies made improper payments in fiscal year 2022 alone, averaging $20.5 billion per month, or $683 million per day.
“In total, federal agencies made an estimated $247 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2022, which is less than the all-time high of $281 billion in FY 2021 but still more than every other previous year, even when adjusting for inflation,” the report said.
“In 2022, the incorrect payments totaled $1,673 for every individual tax return filed that year. (167,915,264, according to the IRS),” said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Open the Books. “They amounted to $846 for every man, woman, and child in the country. So, the government wasted $3,384 for every family of four – an amount equal to two average mortgage payments. (331,893,745, U.S. pop in 2021, from U.S. Census Bureau website).”
Feds were able to secure an “actual recovery rate” of 9 percent of the improperly paid funds.
Improper payments can occur because of deceptive fraudsters or from agency errors, such as the $532.5 million that went to dead people in 2022. Dead people received $441.7 million in 2021 in mistaken payments.
“Federal retirement services (pensions), old-age, survivors, and disability insurance, and social security were sent to dead recipients,” the group said.
In particular, the spike in COVID-era programs and payments led to a rise in waste, fraud and abuse. The more time passes, the less likely the Feds are to recover those funds.
“In 2021, the Small Business Administration overpaid $671 million in improper payments,” the report said. “That number ballooned to $37.3 billion in 2022, due mostly to the Paycheck Protection Loan Program and COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program – $35.9 billion combined.”
Open The Books found that the worst offending agencies in 2022 were the “Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicaid ($81 billion); HHS’s Medicare – consisting of several parts – ($47 billion); and Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program ($29 billion).”
Improper payments have been an ongoing problem, with agencies reporting nearly $3 trillion in improper payments since 2004.
“While lawmakers fight over how many trillions to spend per year, every dollar blown hurts the taxpayers and fails a critical mission,” Andrzejewski said.