Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing scrutiny after touting nearly $400 million in allegedly fraudulent unemployment claims—findings that critics say largely duplicate already known data.
In a widely shared post, DOGE claimed to uncover tens of thousands of claims filed by individuals with implausible birthdates, including toddlers and the extremely elderly. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer praised the findings during a Cabinet meeting, prompting President Trump to call the numbers “really bad.”
However, labor experts and former officials say much of the fraud DOGE highlighted was already reported by the Department of Labor’s inspector general and others. Some “claims” were pseudo records created to preserve evidence of identity theft, not actual payments.
Critics, including experts from the National Employment Law Project and the Manhattan Institute, argue DOGE’s messaging misrepresents or exaggerates issues for political effect, casting doubt on the office’s credibility even in legitimate cases of fraud.
The Labor Department has previously estimated COVID-era unemployment fraud could total up to $135 billion.
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