Washington, DC – In a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Burwell, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA) and 17 other Committee Members called on the Obama Administration to stop recently furloughed Federal employees from also collecting and keeping unemployment benefits, a practice commonly known as “double dipping.”

Camp, whose Committee has jurisdiction over the Federal/State Unemployment Insurance (UI) program, commented: “It is absolutely inexcusable that the Obama Administration would even consider allowing employees who were furloughed, and who are getting back pay because Congress took action, to also keep their UI benefits.  Under that scheme you get paid not just once, but twice, not to work.  Where is the logic in that?  It is that kind of misuse of taxpayer dollars that the American people hate about Washington, and we need to stop this practice now.”

Recent media reports revealed that some Federal workers who were furloughed and applied for unemployment insurance during the recent government shutdown will be able to keep both those benefits and their pay Congress voted to restore.  In response, the Members urged OMB to take action to “[M]aintain the integrity of the unemployment insurance system for those it is intended to serve – unemployed individuals who have been laid off through no fault of their own, and not temporarily furloughed Federal employees who have already received full back pay.”

The full letter can be read here.

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