Written by: Amanda Angulo
It comes as no surprise that California’s Employment Development Department has had a terrible system regarding its communication and backlogs. In fact, it happens to be Gov. Newsom’s most significant political liability during the pandemic, which speaks volumes considering how much this Governor has tarnished the state.
Thousands of unemployed residents claim they have been backlogged for weeks while the EDD paid out $31 billion in fraudulent cases and sent over $1 billion to prisoners and jail inmates. The EDD has frozen accounts, jammed phone lines, and often neglect to fix the glitches on their site, leaving many frustrated and desperate for help.
While Newsom himself made no comments on the strike team formed to overhaul the EDD’s outdated technology, Newsom is aware that the agency’s shortcomings could be one of the main things voters think about during the Sept. 14 recall election. “Newsom’s Employment Development Department spent over $30 billion in fraudulent payments to criminals and prison inmates while forcing hundreds of thousands of struggling, out-of-work Californians to wait months for their money,” wrote Orrin Heatlie, retired Yolo County sheriff’s sergeant.
Millions of Californians were put out of work in March 2020 when the first surge of the pandemic hit the U.S. when Newsom began his Draconian executive orders to shut down the state. Because of that, the EDD became quickly overwhelmed by call volumes and participants. After 23.6 million claims flooded in, they paid $164 billion in benefits.
Yet, those people who become unemployed went home to face a website that created several problems and glitches as well as hours next to a phone waiting for someone from the agency to pick up.
Despite efforts to reform the antiquated website and system at the EDD, problems still arise. On July 31, 216,000 claims were not approved within 21 days. Additionally, the week ending on the previous date shows that the EDD received 3.4 million calls, yet only answered 248,000 of them.
The mess Newsom made and left with the EDD has even left some Democrats second-guessing him for the upcoming recall election. Logan Powell from Barstow claimed that after seeing his unemployment benefits get delayed, “it has made me a little hesitant.” Even Newsome’s leftist allies are questioning his leadership.
Throughout all this chaos, San Diego Assemblyman Randy Voepel has been hard at work accounting for the billions of dollars that have been squandered due to fraud. He is assuring San Diego taxpayers that he is fighting for them, which is assuring knowing that the left is gloating with that very money.
His office has issued the following statement: “As a result of a constituent, I was recently made aware of multiple cases of EDD fraud going on in my district. My staff has been working with constituents who have legitimate claims, who are jumping through hoops and waiting long periods of time to receive their benefits. It is extremely frustrating to see that this is still happening. Billions upon billions of dollars of taxpayer money has been wasted through rampant fraud! I will keep doing my part to protect the taxpayers.”
Image from: ABC 30
