Manchin Could Sink Biden Nominee Who Oversaw Billions In Pandemic Fraud

Reports suggest that Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is likely to oppose the nomination of Julie Su as the new Labor Secretary. Su is responsible for handling billions of dollars of pandemic relief fraud during her tenure as a senior official in the California Labor Department. The Employment Development Department of California was accountable for $114 billion pandemic relief claims, and a major chunk of this amount was fraudulent under Su’s leadership. The San Francisco Chronicle’s report suggests that the financial loss could have exceeded $31 billion.

The President’s nomination for Labor Secretary may be at stake as Senator Manchin expressed his hesitation to vote in favor of Su’s nomination. Such opposition from a Democrat could defeat the nomination in a narrowly divided Senate. Two other senators, Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT), could also refuse to support Su’s nomination to maintain their distance from the President as they prepare for re-election campaigns. Manchin’s opposition got Neera Tanden’s prospects of becoming the Office of Management and Budget director nixed; she works as the White House Staff Secretary now.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre argued in favor of Su last month despite her overseeing the massive unemployment insurance fraud. Jean-Pierre mentioned that Su was managing one in five unemployment relief claims in the entire nation at the onset of the pandemic, leading to challenges, including fraud attacks. Asked by journalists about the fraud committed during her tenure, Su admitted the widespread fraud in California and blamed the Trump administration for failing to provide guidance on distributing the funds.

The matter of widespread fraud associated with pandemic relief programs introduced to stimulate the economy during the lockdown-induced recession has caught the attention of House Republicans, who secured a narrow majority in the midterm elections. According to a government report, criminals might have stolen up to $60 billion from various federal unemployment schemes. Other estimates suggest that $400 billion, which is half of the total unemployment funds allotted by the federal government, was lost to fraud.

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