Are we supposed to believe that Congress suddenly cares about finding waste, fraud, and abuse? These days, the only thing Congress seems concerned with is how to spend money fast, and with no oversight.
The idea that our elected officials are now rallying to address decades of financial mismanagement is laughable—if it weren’t so infuriating.
I’m not sure when Congress stopped giving a crap about taxpayer funds, but I know it’s not a recent development. For years, both Republicans and Democrats have turned a blind eye to the staggering amounts of money lost to improper payments, fraud, and outright theft. Yet, suddenly, we’re supposed to believe that the same people who allowed this mess to fester are now the ones who will clean it up.
According to The Washington Examiner, we drop a lot of money every year for the wrong reasons.
Last year, the U.S. government made at least $162 billion in improper payments, according to a nonpartisan government watchdog. Kristin Kociolek of the Government Accountability Office also told a House oversight subcommittee that the government was defrauded of $233 billion to $521 billion per year between 2018 and 2022.
Social welfare programs and pandemic emergency programs have proven especially prone to errors and abuses. Medicare , the health insurance program for senior citizens, racked up $54.3 billion in improper payments last year. Medicaid, the healthcare program for low-income people, improperly dispensed $31.1 billion. The earned income tax credit , which gives an income tax cut, accounted for another $15.9 billion, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, cost $8.7 billion.
If you want a better idea of how long this has been going on and what’s the costs, here is the latest from House Oversight:
In addition, Chairman Comer highlighted that the American people are tired of fraudulent payments. The federal government has lost $2.7 trillion because of improper payments since 2003, and he stressed that fraudsters, organized criminals, hostile foreign actors, and even government employees have siphoned money away from Americans who truly qualify for assistance.
Understand that we are only talking about improper payments. Here is what the Government Accountability Office estimates for annual losses by the Fed:
The estimated annual financial losses to the US government from fraud range from $233 billion to $521 billion. Additionally, federal improper payment estimates have totaled about $2.8 trillion since FY 2003
Using these numbers, the estimated losses dating back to 2003 are approximately $5.13 trillion on the low end and $11.46 trillion on the high end. Those are national-debt-altering numbers either way it goes.
If by now you aren’t questioning why we even have Congress, then you need a lobotomy. But what’s worse is that we’re now being fed a puff piece about how two Congressmen—Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD)—are suddenly interested in tackling this issue.
According to the House Oversight Committee, these two leaders of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce have been investigating errant government payments for a few years. They’re being heralded as unlikely partners in the fight against waste, fraud, and abuse.
Let’s take a closer look at these so-called champions of fiscal responsibility. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas, has been in and out of Congress since 1997. He’s a career politician who has faced his share of controversies, including allegations of ethical violations and ties to lobbying groups. Sessions lost his seat in 2018 but managed to resurrect his political career by winning a different district in 2020. His sudden interest in government waste feels more like a calculated move to rehabilitate his image than a genuine commitment to reform.
On the other side of the aisle, we have Kweisi Mfume, a Democrat from Maryland. Mfume’s career has been equally checkered. He served in Congress from 1987 to 1996 before leaving to lead the NAACP. He returned to Congress in 2020 after a 24-year hiatus, winning the seat formerly held by Elijah Cummings. Mfume’s record is a mix of advocacy and scandal, including allegations of sexual harassment during his tenure at the NAACP. Like Sessions, his newfound focus on government waste feels more like political theater than a sincere effort to address the problem.
So why are these two resurrected politicians suddenly interested in an issue that Congress has neglected for decades?
The answer lies in the growing public outrage over government waste and the looming threat of a fiscal crisis. With the national debt surpassing $36 trillion and inflation squeezing American households, taxpayers are demanding accountability. Both parties are scrambling to position themselves as the solution, even though they’ve been part of the problem for years.
But why should American taxpayers believe that the so-called “Uniparty” will suddenly do something different? The truth is, they shouldn’t. Congress has had decades to address this issue, and yet, the problem has only gotten worse. The GAO has been issuing annual reports on improper payments and fraud for years, but nothing has changed. The fact that it took $5 to $11 trillion in losses for Congress to even pretend to care is a damning indictment of our political system.
The reality is that waste, fraud, and abuse are baked into the system. Both parties benefit from the status quo, and there’s little incentive to change it. Until voters demand real accountability and elect leaders who are willing to take on the entrenched interests in Washington, nothing will change.
In the meantime, we’re left with the spectacle of resurrected politicians like Pete Sessions and Kweisi Mfume pretending to care about taxpayer dollars. It’s a sad commentary on the state of our democracy, but it’s also a call to action. If we want real change, we’re going to have to fight for it—because Congress certainly won’t.
So, the next time you hear a politician talk about cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse, ask yourself this: where have they been for the last 20 years? Hell, 40 years. And why should we trust them now? The answer, unfortunately, is that we shouldn’t.
