KDOL secretary expresses concern over unemployment insurance program cuts

KANSAS (KSNT) – The Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) says its Unemployment Insurance (UI) Integrity and Fraud Prevention program, which receives federal funding, is slated to have budget cuts that KDOL claims will weaken Kansas’ readiness for future crises.

KDOL Secretary Amber Shultz wrote a letter on June 26 to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) expressing her concerns after termination notices were sent out stating the program “no longer effectuates the Department’s priorities for its grant funding.” The program was set to receive $1,739,000, but those funds were revised down to $676,940 on June 6, according to usaspending.gov.

Shultz said the grant was intended to strengthen the integrity of the UI system and that characterizing the work as not in the DOL’s objectives is “confusing and contradictory.”

“The rationale of canceling a grant specifically intended to detect and prevent fraud is, frankly, counterproductive,” Shultz wrote to the DOL. “The funding supported critical infrastructure: identity verification tools, fraud analytics, and system safeguards that directly addressed the criminal attacks and operational failures that overwhelmed state systems during the pandemic. Revoking this support now leaves states more vulnerable to the very threats we were all called to confront.”

The UI program has helped protect taxpayer dollars by using identity verification tools, fraud analytics and system safeguards to counter criminal attacks and operational breakdowns that can strain Kansas’ unemployment systems, according to KDOL. Shultz said the program was developed in response to vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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