Congresswoman Tenney Requests Information on NY Comptroller's Decision to Delay Report Showing Rampant Fraud

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) today alongside House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (KY-1), House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21), and Representative Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) sent a letter to the New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli expressing concerns over his office’s decision to delay key findings related to the audit of the New York State Unemployment Insurance system until after an election.

The audit report 2021-S-3 titled, “Department of Labor: Controls and Management of the Unemployment Insurance System (The Report),” details rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funds intended for COVID relief. The Republican lawmakers emphasized that the comptroller’s decision to delay making the findings public until after the 2022 election was potentially a deliberate attempt to limit damage to Governor Kathy Hochul’s New York campaign and withhold vital and relevant information from voters.

“Committee Republicans together with Republican Members of the New York congressional delegation are investigating the content and timing of the release of your office’s audit of the New York State Unemployment Insurance system,” wrote the Republican lawmakers. “Described as ‘damning’ and a ‘wake-up call for Governor Hochul and legislators,’ your office did not issue the audit report until November 15, 2022, exactly one week after the 2022 election. The timing raises concerns that your office may have delayed the report to limit damage to Governor Kathy Hochul’s campaign. Your office’s press release on The Report notes that the New York Department of Labor’s (DOL) failure to replace its long-troubled UI system, along with ad hoc workarounds, ultimately contributed to billions of dollars in improper payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The state of New York made more than 218 million traditional and temporary UI payments totaling over $76 billion dollars. The U.S. DOL estimates that the fraud rate for New York’s traditional UI program would equate to costing taxpayers approximately $11 billion. In addition, the New York DOL could not explain to auditors why fraud rates tripled, nor were they willing to provide data that would enable auditors to perform their own independent analysis.

“This is critical information because during the pandemic, New York had to borrow billions of dollars from the federal government to support UI claims. Voters should have been informed of these damning allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement by Governor Hochul’s DOL prior to the election,” continued the Republican lawmakers. “Failing to release this report before the election raises serious concerns that your office may have intentionally sought to shield Governor Hochul as her polling lead declined from an 18 percent lead in August 2022 to losing to Lee Zeldin by almost 1 percent in October 2022.”

The Republican lawmakers are seeking all documents and communications between any New York Comptroller employee and employees with the Office of the New York State Governor.

Read the letter here.