Obamas stim plan sent 4000 Cons ....cash. $250 each

[Danno 1,228]

We are tanking our economy for this?

Feds: Stimulus money sent to 4,000 cons

One day after the Herald reported some surprised Bay State inmates - including murderers and rapists - were cashing in $250 stimulus checks, federal officials revealed the same behind-bars bonus was mailed to nearly 4,000 cons nationwide.

A federal watchdog is now probing how the cons were cut the checks. The same cash also may have been sent to fugitive felons, people kicked out of the country and even individuals now deceased.

It’s all part of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - and what is becoming an accounting nightmare for red-faced feds.

“President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus bill has done more to help convicted criminals than it has to actually boost our economy and create jobs,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Sara Sendek.

The Inspector General of Social Security is now tracing the checks that were mailed to 3,900 prisoners at a cost of nearly $1 million after yesterday’s report in the Herald.

Social Security Administration spokesman Stephen Richardson said yesterday none of the prisoner recipients receive monthly Social Security benefits, meaning they should not qualify for a stimulus check. Such benefits are generally cut off to the incarcerated.

The IG also is investigating whether any improper payments were made to dead beneficiaries, felons on the run from the law, individuals living overseas and recipients no longer legally authorized to live in the United States, said IG spokesman George Penn.

Among the 23 inmate recipients in Massachusetts mentioned in yesterday’s Herald are a prisoner convicted of first-degree murder, three prisoners jailed for second-degree murder and five convicted rapists, according to the state Department of Correction.

Richardson said five Bay State prisoners received the payments legitimately because they were legally on Social Security in a three-month period before they went to jail.

The remaining checks were sent to individuals who were not properly identified as prisoners in Social Security records or to people where inaccurate Social Security numbers have since been found.

Only five Massachusetts prisoners have enough cash left to pay the government back, the DOC said.

Nationally, about 2,200 inmates who were mailed checks are entitled to the payments because they were not in prison and lawfully collecting Social Security at some point between November 2008 and January, Richardson said.

The federal goverment is examining whether the payment was due to the remaining 1,700 inmates because they were not identified as prisoners in the Social Security system, Richardson said.

The U.S. Treasury Department began mailing the $250 checks to 54.4 million Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and federal railroad retirees in May as part of a $13 billion spending plan.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Hail, Barry and his stimulous. I bet he's even gonna give healthcare to dead people! WOOOT!

I love you man!

[Niels Bohr 72]

STOP THE STUPID SH1Tz! NOT OBAMA'S FAULT

The federal government mistakenly sent out stimulus checks to 1,700 inmates, the Social Security Administration said Tuesday -- a $425,000 error.

Social Security spokesman Dan Moraski told FOXNews.com in a written statement that the money went out because official records "did not accurately reflect that they were in prison."

The inspector general's office for the Social Security Administration is now looking into the problem as part of its broader audit on stimulus spending. The Social Security Administration acknowledged the glitch following a report that nearly two-dozen inmates in Massachusetts had wrongly received the $250 stimulus checks.

Even before the agency disclosed that the problem was more widespread, the discovery prompted complaints from Republicans critical of the $787 billion stimulus and the way it has been managed.

"It is unacceptable for convicts to be getting stimulus funds. It speaks to the lack of oversight and accountability to have such nonsense coming out of Washington. Where is the accountability?" House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said in a written statement.

Though it might strike taxpayers as unusual, some inmates were legally eligible for the stimulus checks.

Under the law, the $250 checks were supposed to be sent to those legally receiving benefits under the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Railroad Retirement Board between November 2008 and January 2009.

So while inmates generally aren't eligible for Social Security benefits, those who were not incarcerated between November and January got the stimulus checks fair and square.

Moraski said a total of 3,900 inmates not receiving benefits were sent a stimulus check and that of those, 2,200 were due the payment because they were out of prison late last year. The other 1,700 were mistakenly sent the checks.

But Moraski said that the number was "relatively small" given the fact that 52 million total payments were made, and that most of the mistaken payments have been returned by the correctional institutions. He did not provide specifics for how much of the $425,000 had been returned.

The Boston Herald reported the administration is asking for the Massachusetts money back. But Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, told FOXNews.com that her department tried to alert the Social Security staff months ago when it first discovered that the checks had been sent to 23 inmates.

"It was the DOC's opinion that the inmates were not eligible for the payments because of their incarceration, and we withheld the checks from the inmates at that time and immediately contacted the federal Social Security Administration," she said in an e-mail.

But she said that the administration "failed to provide a directive despite several requests," so the department could no longer withhold the checks from the inmates.

George Penn, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration's inspector general, said his office is examining the issue and likely will fold the inquiry into part of its audit of stimulus spending.

"(In) our initial analysis, we found that there were some (recipients) that were in prison," Penn said.

It's unclear whether beneficiaries thought to be eligible under the Department of Veterans Affairs received the stimulus money mistakenly due to incarceration.

Steven Bartholow, general counsel with the Railroad Retirement Board, said inmates receiving railroad benefits easily could have received stimulus checks -- but that it would have been totally legal, since in almost all circumstances inmates are eligible for railroad retirement benefits.

"If there are any people like that then they would have received a stimulus payment," he said.

But he added: "It's a very, very small number."

I WILL CONTINUE TO STRAIGHTEN THE FACTS AGAINST THE RIGHT WING NUTS!

Edited August 27, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[Ban Hammer 13,658]

Hail, Barry and his stimulous. I bet he's even gonna give healthcare to dead people! WOOOT!

I love you man!

nah, he's gonna raise their taxes.