This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It is an election year after all, and Joe Biden's record of accomplishments is sparse, what with his economy that has left prices inflated some 17% since he took office, his dismal record on international relations, his extreme left agenda on abortion and transgenderism, including mutilating surgeries on children, and his policy of a wide-open southern border, so that millions of illegal aliens can enter the U.S.
So when the documentation of "improper payments" by the government actually went down, the White House posted a statement boasting about it.
The White House bragged, "Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is releasing its annual data on improper payments, which shows a reduction Government-wide. This critical milestone demonstrates the integrity of Government programs while ensuring that the Government continues to work better for the American people. The improper and insufficient documentation payment rate in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 was 5.43%. Consistent with the reduction in FY 2022, this year’s rate again shows a significant decrease compared to the FY 2021 rate of 7.16%."
It also alleged that those payments are not "a measure of monetary losses to taxpayers," because it could involve a simple matter of failed "documentation."
However, the posting left out a significant factor – how much money actually was involved, and Just the News obtained that figure from the General Accountability Office.
It was $236 billion, which, in fact, WAS down from the $247 billion from Biden's previous year in the White House.
Since a billion here and a billion there soon adds up to significant money, for perspective, the $236 billion would purchase 728,000 brand-new Ferrari F8 Spider cars. Those are the toys that develop 710 horsepower and go from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and 0-124 in 7.8 seconds.
To put THAT in perspective, that would be enough cars to hand over the keys to a new vehicle to every resident of Denver, with some 30,000 cars left over.
Just the News reported that the loss to the government is more than double the amount from fiscal year 2013.
"Since 2003, there have been more than $2.4 trillion of improper payments made across the federal government, according to the GAO, and that figure does not include the fiscal year 2023 amount. The government watchdog defines 'improper payments' as payments that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount, and says they 'have consistently been a government-wide issue despite efforts to identify their root causes and reduce them,'" the report said.
The most improper payments stem from the massive Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Earned Income Tax Credit programs.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Just the News it was "more evidence" that shows Washington, D.C., is broken.
"This is just more evidence that Washington is broken and too many career politicians and bureaucrats don't care about how they waste taxpayer dollars," he said. "We are $34 trillion in debt and will be over $36 trillion in debt before the current debt limit deal ends next January. We cannot afford to wait any longer to stop the runaway spending train and get our fiscal house in order."
Pending before Congress right now are measures that would keep the government funded and running.
The report said those payments surged from 2007 when they were $42 billion to 2010, when they were $121 billion.
