Biden’s Federal Agencies Improperly Paid $236 Billion In 2023

While government waste is expected, the staggering level it reached under President Joe Biden’s leadership would surprise even the hardened cynic. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week reported nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in misspent taxpayer funds last fiscal year alone.

The total of what the GAO described as “improper payments” made by 14 federal agencies reached $236 billion in fiscal 2023.

The report defined these payments as “those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount. Roughly $175 billion, or 74% of the waste, was in the form of overpayments made by Biden’s federal agencies.

Amazingly, that remarkable figure is an $11 billion decrease from fiscal 2022 under the Biden White House. The GAO reported that this wasteful spending steadily increased over the past two decades.

The total amount since 2003 is startling. “Improper payments” made by the federal government, according to GAO records, reached an unbelievable $2.7 trillion.

The GAO noted in its report that “payment errors are a long-standing issue for the federal government.”

Officials emphasized that the $236 billion sum for the last fiscal year is only an estimate and does not include some programs deemed “susceptible” to poor financial accounting practices.

The GAO cited the example of the Health and Human Services Department’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as one that is prone to overpayments. An in-depth probe cited five federal programs responsible for most of the waste.

This included $51.1 billion for Medicare and $50.3 billion for Medicaid.

On top of these offenders are $43.6 billion from Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, $21.9 billion of waste for Earned Income Tax Credit, and another $18.7 billion for Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness.

The combined total for the other nine federal government agencies included in the data was $50.1 billion for payments that never should have been made.

One GOP lawmaker, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), blasted the White House for the utter lack of fiscal responsibility. Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Scott wrote, “We need accountability here! This is YOUR money the Biden admin took out of your wallet and wasted.”