Government agents acting without authorization conducted dozens of undercover investigations of illegal tobacco sales, misused some of $162 million in profits from the stings and lost track of at least 420 million cigarettes, the Justice Department’s inspector general said Wednesday.
In one case, ATF agents sold $15 million in cigarettes and later turned over $4.9 million in profits from the sales to a confidential informant — even though the agency did not properly account for the transaction.
Reviewing three-dozen ATF undercover cigarette stings between 2006 and 2011, the inspector general found that none of those income-generating probes had been given proper prior approval by an internal ATF review committee, as required by agency policy.
One of those sting operations did not have any approval, either from the ATF or the Justice Department. In that 2009 case, ATF officials allowed a tobacco distributor working as an ATF confidential informant to keep $4.9 million in profits from cigarette sales to criminal suspects. ATF officials justified the move by explaining the $4.9 million covered the informant’s expenses. But the inspector general said the agency failed to “require the informant to provide adequate documentation to support or justify those expenses.”
The remaining profits were used by agency officials to pay for a separate ATF cigarette smuggling sting — which the inspector general said violated ATF rules that profits from a “churning investigation” could only be used to fund that specific operation, not other cases.
The inspector general said shoddy documentation and inventory controls made it impossible to account for more than 2.1 million cartons of cigarettes — totaling 420 million cigarettes — during at least 20 separate ATF sting operations. The watchdog estimated the retail value of those items at $127 million.
The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a TIGTA report released today.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today.
The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare.
According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”
The report also found several other abuses of taxpayer funds, including:
Travel abuse: The report states, “Specifically, we identified 38 IRS employees in two judgmentally selected business units whose travel was charged to the HIRIF in FY 2012, but no portion of their salary and related benefits was charged to the HIRIF.” In short, the IRS was not making sure that employee travel reimbursements had anything to do with the purpose of the fund. This is not the first time that IRS employee travel has created a scandal for the agency.
1,272 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents: The report estimates that total slush fund spending cost taxpayers the equivalent of 1,272 new full time IRS agents.
The IRS requested an additional 859 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents for Fiscal Year 2013: According to the report, “The IRS informed us that it requested $360 million and 859 FTEs for FY 2013 to continue implementation of the ACA. However, the IRS did not receive this requested amount for FY 2013.”
To add insult to injury, the IRS has told the Inspector General that it will comply with the recommendations made in the report; unfortunately, the slush fund has been fully spent, making that promise meaningless.
The Postal Service posted a $15.9 billion net loss last fiscal year and expects to record a loss of $6 billion in the current fiscal year, due largely to pre-funding payments for retiree health benefits.
The rate hike will require approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission because under federal law, rates cannot be raised over the rate of inflation, currently about 2%.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement that the rate hike was only a near-term solution.
"Today's rate increase is a desperate cry for help from an insolvent Postal Service. Revenue and volume are down dramatically and our mail delivery service, hamstrung by congressional mandates and onerous labor contracts, has been unable to sufficiently reduce costs."
"This rate hike and the ones sure to follow will only push more and more private sector customers to stop using the mail altogether,'' Issa said. "The rate increase poses a direct threat to the 8 million private-sector jobs that are part of the mailing industry as businesses shift from paper-based to electronic communication and mailers are priced out of business."
Recently, the Postal Service proposed other cost-saving measures, including ending door-to-door delivery for millions of consumers.
Mary Berner, president of the Association of Magazine Media industry trade group, said higher postage rates are a stop-gap solution that would clip member's profits and accelerate the Postal Service's losses.
"No private company would increase prices when sales are already plummeting,'' Berner said. "(This) will cause significant declines in mail volume and further job losses across the industry without addressing the USPS' core issues. The consequences of this decision will be felt by the entire mailing industry, the Postal Service, and consumers."
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (AP photo/J. Scott Applewhite) WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) coverage because of cost overruns, state officials say.
The drafters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) created PCIP — which is often pronounced "pee-sip" — to serve as transition program for the so-called "uninsurables" — people with serious medical conditions who can't get coverage elsewhere.
The program was supposed to help uninsurable people bridge the gap from day PPACA was signed into law in March 2010 until Jan. 1, 2014, when PPACA will prohibit health insurers from taking health problems into account when deciding whether to accept applicants.
About 100,000 people now have PCIP coverage. The people in a state's plan pay premiums comparable to the premiums that commercial insurers in the state charge healthy enrollees.
In a letter this week to Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius, state officials said they were "blindsided" and "very disappointed" by a federal proposal that they contend would shift the risk for cost overruns to the states in the waning days of the program.
"We are concerned about what will become of our high risk members' access to this decent and affordable coverage," wrote Michael Keough, chairman of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans. States and local nonprofits administer the program in 27 states, and the federal government runs the remaining plans.
"Enrollees also appear to be at risk of increases in both premiums and out-of-pocket costs that may make continued enrollment cost prohibitive," added Keough, who runs North Carolina's program. He warned of "large-scale enrollee terminations at this critical transition time."
Here is a compilation of some of the most spectacular Obama administration green-energy failures: The Amonix Solar: The manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants given by Obama Administration, has closed its 214,000 square-foot facility a year after it opened. Solar Trust of America: Filed for bankruptcy in Oakland, CA, on April 3, 2012. Bright Source: Bright Source warned Obama’s Energy Department officials in March 2011 that delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar energy company to close. Bright Source then received more money. Solyndra: Obama gave $500,000,000 in taxpayer money to Solyndra who shut its doors and laid off 1100 workers in August 2011 after billions in losses due to failure to make a solar product that works. LSP Energy: LSPEnergy LP filed for bankruptcy protection and conducted a sale of its assets in Feb. 2012. Energy Conversion Devices: On February 14, 2012 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy. Abound Solar: Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee from Barack Obama, then announced in June, 2012 that it would file for bankruptcy. SunPower: SunPower stopped producing solar cells in 2011 at near bankruptcy, then restructured with the help of an oil company.
Beacon Power: Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy protection in October, 2011 just a year after Obama approved a $43 million Government loan guarantee. They remain barely in business, still struggling to make energy that makes sense or that works at all. Ecotality: ECOtality, a San Francisco green-tech company that never earned any money and remains on the verge of bankruptcy after receiving roughly $115 million in two loan guarantees from President Obama. A123 Sola: A123 Solar received $279 million from taxpayers thanks to President Obama’s Department of Energy loan guarantees even after the Solyndra bankruptcy and is getting another $500 million from Obama after a loss of $400 million. Uni-Solar: Uni-Solar filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy in June 20, 2012 after laying off hundreds of workers. UniSolar received even more Obama money after showing now progress, no profits and is still failing… yet they still remain in business with Obama’s help. Azure Dynamics: Azure Dynamics filed for bankruptcy in June of 2012 after wasting millions in stimulus money. Evergreen Solar: Evergreen Solar received $527 Million in Taxpayer money from Obama and filed bankruptcy in late 2011. Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March, 2011 cut more than 1800 jobs. Evergreen’s $450 million factory, turned out to be a colossal “waste” of taxpayer money. Ener1: Ener1 Inc. received a $118 million U.S. Energy Department grant from President Obama to make electric-car batteries but filed for bankruptcy protection January 2012 after defaulting on bond debt.
No mention of TARP or the savings and loan bailout? How about all the trillions poured into the defense industry after the cold war was over? Our government throws money at EVERYTHING!!!! We are all so used to it that our country would look like a much different place without all of the graft and fraud that goes along with all the "free" money flowing from an unlimited well.
I have the solution. Lets do away with humans being elected and staff the government with robotic computers. Everything will be based on logic and known facts. Anyone have a problem with that?
"I have the solution. Lets do away with humans being elected and staff the government with robotic computers. Everything will be based on logic and known facts."
Humm.... I thought about that and decided that you might be on to something.... what logical computer would allocate resources to anything that was non productive.....but then I saw a flaw... no doubt Obama would let out the programming on a no bid contract to one of his up and coming technology friends....
Government agents acting without authorization conducted dozens of undercover investigations of illegal tobacco sales, misused some of $162 million in profits from the stings and lost track of at least 420 million cigarettes, the Justice Department’s inspector general said Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteIn one case, ATF agents sold $15 million in cigarettes and later turned over $4.9 million in profits from the sales to a confidential informant — even though the agency did not properly account for the transaction.
Reviewing three-dozen ATF undercover cigarette stings between 2006 and 2011, the inspector general found that none of those income-generating probes had been given proper prior approval by an internal ATF review committee, as required by agency policy.
One of those sting operations did not have any approval, either from the ATF or the Justice Department. In that 2009 case, ATF officials allowed a tobacco distributor working as an ATF confidential informant to keep $4.9 million in profits from cigarette sales to criminal suspects. ATF officials justified the move by explaining the $4.9 million covered the informant’s expenses. But the inspector general said the agency failed to “require the informant to provide adequate documentation to support or justify those expenses.”
The remaining profits were used by agency officials to pay for a separate ATF cigarette smuggling sting — which the inspector general said violated ATF rules that profits from a “churning investigation” could only be used to fund that specific operation, not other cases.
The inspector general said shoddy documentation and inventory controls made it impossible to account for more than 2.1 million cartons of cigarettes — totaling 420 million cigarettes — during at least 20 separate ATF sting operations. The watchdog estimated the retail value of those items at $127 million.
The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a TIGTA report released today.
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON, D.C. – The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today.
The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare.
According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”
The report also found several other abuses of taxpayer funds, including:
Travel abuse: The report states, “Specifically, we identified 38 IRS employees in two judgmentally selected business units whose travel was charged to the HIRIF in FY 2012, but no portion of their salary and related benefits was charged to the HIRIF.” In short, the IRS was not making sure that employee travel reimbursements had anything to do with the purpose of the fund. This is not the first time that IRS employee travel has created a scandal for the agency.
1,272 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents: The report estimates that total slush fund spending cost taxpayers the equivalent of 1,272 new full time IRS agents.
The IRS requested an additional 859 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents for Fiscal Year 2013: According to the report, “The IRS informed us that it requested $360 million and 859 FTEs for FY 2013 to continue implementation of the ACA. However, the IRS did not receive this requested amount for FY 2013.”
To add insult to injury, the IRS has told the Inspector General that it will comply with the recommendations made in the report; unfortunately, the slush fund has been fully spent, making that promise meaningless.
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The Postal Service posted a $15.9 billion net loss last fiscal year and expects to record a loss of $6 billion in the current fiscal year, due largely to pre-funding payments for retiree health benefits.
ReplyDeleteThe rate hike will require approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission because under federal law, rates cannot be raised over the rate of inflation, currently about 2%.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement that the rate hike was only a near-term solution.
"Today's rate increase is a desperate cry for help from an insolvent Postal Service. Revenue and volume are down dramatically and our mail delivery service, hamstrung by congressional mandates and onerous labor contracts, has been unable to sufficiently reduce costs."
"This rate hike and the ones sure to follow will only push more and more private sector customers to stop using the mail altogether,'' Issa said. "The rate increase poses a direct threat to the 8 million private-sector jobs that are part of the mailing industry as businesses shift from paper-based to electronic communication and mailers are priced out of business."
Recently, the Postal Service proposed other cost-saving measures, including ending door-to-door delivery for millions of consumers.
Mary Berner, president of the Association of Magazine Media industry trade group, said higher postage rates are a stop-gap solution that would clip member's profits and accelerate the Postal Service's losses.
"No private company would increase prices when sales are already plummeting,'' Berner said. "(This) will cause significant declines in mail volume and further job losses across the industry without addressing the USPS' core issues. The consequences of this decision will be felt by the entire mailing industry, the Postal Service, and consumers."
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (AP photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) coverage because of cost overruns, state officials say.
The drafters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) created PCIP — which is often pronounced "pee-sip" — to serve as transition program for the so-called "uninsurables" — people with serious medical conditions who can't get coverage elsewhere.
The program was supposed to help uninsurable people bridge the gap from day PPACA was signed into law in March 2010 until Jan. 1, 2014, when PPACA will prohibit health insurers from taking health problems into account when deciding whether to accept applicants.
About 100,000 people now have PCIP coverage. The people in a state's plan pay premiums comparable to the premiums that commercial insurers in the state charge healthy enrollees.
In a letter this week to Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius, state officials said they were "blindsided" and "very disappointed" by a federal proposal that they contend would shift the risk for cost overruns to the states in the waning days of the program.
"We are concerned about what will become of our high risk members' access to this decent and affordable coverage," wrote Michael Keough, chairman of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans. States and local nonprofits administer the program in 27 states, and the federal government runs the remaining plans.
"Enrollees also appear to be at risk of increases in both premiums and out-of-pocket costs that may make continued enrollment cost prohibitive," added Keough, who runs North Carolina's program. He warned of "large-scale enrollee terminations at this critical transition time."
Here is a compilation of some of the most spectacular Obama administration green-energy failures:
ReplyDeleteThe Amonix Solar: The manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants given by Obama Administration, has closed its 214,000 square-foot facility a year after it opened.
Solar Trust of America: Filed for bankruptcy in Oakland, CA, on April 3, 2012.
Bright Source: Bright Source warned Obama’s Energy Department officials in March 2011 that delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar energy company to close. Bright Source then received more money.
Solyndra: Obama gave $500,000,000 in taxpayer money to Solyndra who shut its doors and laid off 1100 workers in August 2011 after billions in losses due to failure to make a solar product that works.
LSP Energy: LSPEnergy LP filed for bankruptcy protection and conducted a sale of its assets in Feb. 2012.
Energy Conversion Devices: On February 14, 2012 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy.
Abound Solar: Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee from Barack Obama, then announced in June, 2012 that it would file for bankruptcy.
SunPower: SunPower stopped producing solar cells in 2011 at near bankruptcy, then restructured with the help of an oil company.
Beacon Power: Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy protection in October, 2011 just a year after Obama approved a $43 million Government loan guarantee. They remain barely in business, still struggling to make energy that makes sense or that works at all.
ReplyDeleteEcotality: ECOtality, a San Francisco green-tech company that never earned any money and remains on the verge of bankruptcy after receiving roughly $115 million in two loan guarantees from President Obama.
A123 Sola: A123 Solar received $279 million from taxpayers thanks to President Obama’s Department of Energy loan guarantees even after the Solyndra bankruptcy and is getting another $500 million from Obama after a loss of $400 million.
Uni-Solar: Uni-Solar filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy in June 20, 2012 after laying off hundreds of workers. UniSolar received even more Obama money after showing now progress, no profits and is still failing… yet they still remain in business with Obama’s help.
Azure Dynamics: Azure Dynamics filed for bankruptcy in June of 2012 after wasting millions in stimulus money.
Evergreen Solar: Evergreen Solar received $527 Million in Taxpayer money from Obama and filed bankruptcy in late 2011. Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March, 2011 cut more than 1800 jobs. Evergreen’s $450 million factory, turned out to be a colossal “waste” of taxpayer money.
Ener1: Ener1 Inc. received a $118 million U.S. Energy Department grant from President Obama to make electric-car batteries but filed for bankruptcy protection January 2012 after defaulting on bond debt.
No mention of TARP or the savings and loan bailout? How about all the trillions poured into the defense industry after the cold war was over? Our government throws money at EVERYTHING!!!! We are all so used to it that our country would look like a much different place without all of the graft and fraud that goes along with all the "free" money flowing from an unlimited well.
ReplyDeleteI have the solution. Lets do away with humans being elected and staff the government with robotic computers. Everything will be based on logic and known facts. Anyone have a problem with that?
DeleteI have a better solution. Let's fire or impeach anyone in government that doesn't show up before 2PM every Monday.
Delete1776-2009
"I have the solution. Lets do away with humans being elected and staff the government with robotic computers. Everything will be based on logic and known facts."
DeleteHumm.... I thought about that and decided that you might be on to something.... what logical computer would allocate resources to anything that was non productive.....but then I saw a flaw... no doubt Obama would let out the programming on a no bid contract to one of his up and coming technology friends....