Members of the Senate Republican Caucus are calling for answers after a recent audit showed that Governor Pritzker’s IDES (Illinois Department of Employment Security) lost $5.2 billion through illegitimate unemployment payments during the pandemic, due primarily to fraud and identity theft.

Noting the audit showed that the administration has only been able to recover roughly $500 million, about a tenth of the money lost, Senate Republicans sent a request for more information from the agency.

The legislators are specifically requesting information on what has been done so far to recover money from the illicit payments, as well as what efforts are currently underway to claw back more of the taxpayers’ money.