Maryland Dems float unemployment insurance for federal workers during shutdown

On the eve of a potential government shutdown, Maryland Democrats are putting forth legislation to ensure excepted federal employees during the budget impasse can receive unemployment benefits. 

The Help Federal Employees During Shutdowns Act — sponsored by Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., with a companion bill from Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md. — would provide federal employees required to work during the shutdown the ability to apply for unemployment insurance, a move currently only available to furloughed employees. 

“The Trump Administration has waged a crusade against our federal workers since January, and [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russell Vought is taking advantage of the looming shutdown in order to further villainize and traumatize the federal workforce,” said Hoyer in a statement. “I have seen how government shutdowns put intense strains on our federal workers, which is why I am proud to co-sponsor a bill with my friend, Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth, to ensure essential federal civilian employees have the resources they need to stay afloat in the event of a shutdown.”

Hoyer’s office said in a statement that during the 2018-2019 partial government shutdown, which lasted 35 days, roughly 420,000 federal employees were required to work without pay. The bill would allow those employees to be eligible to apply for UI benefits, which they would have to pay back once they receive back pay after the shutdown ends. States would also be reimbursed for the additional UI benefits they pay out during the shutdown.

“If we are asking these essential employees to go without pay and to keep providing their lifesaving services to the American people, the least we can do is provide them with some temporary financial support during these uncertain times,” Elfreth said in a statement.

The VA’s watchdog said a senior veterans service representative approved disabilities claims at a rate of roughly 19 times the national average 

The Veterans Affairs Department’s inspector general confirmed Monday that a Philadelphia VA Regional Benefit Office employee approved thousands of disability benefit claims without conducting the required reviews.

The report said that VA OIG officials received a July 2024 whistleblower complaint that a senior veterans service representative was allowed to “blindly” approve disability benefits claims within the regional benefit office, which officials later confirmed amounted to 85,300 authorized claims between fiscal 2022 and 2024. 

“The senior VSR spent an average of 4.7 minutes reviewing each claim authorized during this three-year period compared to a national average of about 21 minutes for all other senior VSRs at Veterans Service Centers,” the report said. “During the same period, the senior VSR contributed over 35 percent each year toward the Philadelphia VA Regional Office’s claims completions goal, a metric that is part of regional office executive directors’ performance standards.”

VSRs serve as claims processors within the Veterans Benefits Administration’s regional offices, both providing benefit claim information to veterans while also conducting reviews of rating decisions and gathering information relevant to the claim before authorizing the award.

The report found that the directors of the VBA’s four regional districts discussed the volume of the Philadelphia VSR’s authorizations in 2023, with some raising concerns with the regional office’s executive director.

“The executive director supported the senior VSR, stating that this employee was assigned as a ‘quick hit’ authorizer whose workload was mostly claims with one to three contentions and asserting that the employee’s supervisor pre-screened claims for system compliance errors before sending them to the employee for authorization.”

The OIG later found that in the first six months of 2024, the VSR approved 15,600 claims and a statistical sample of 32 of those claims found that 27 included at least one error. The report estimates, based on the sample, at least 84% of the approvals during that period had at least one error.

“The team determined that some of the errors likely occurred because the senior VSR did not open and review the necessary documents,” the OIG said. “These monetary impact errors resulted in at least an estimated $2.2 million in improper payments during the review period.”

The OIG recommended that VA review all processing errors it identified and correct them, as well as evaluate its control activities claims authorization rates. In its response, the VA concurred with both recommendations and implemented action plans to address them.