--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Thursday, June 29th, and today we're covering a new report from the Small Business Administration that estimates billions of dollars in COVID relief funds have been given to fraudsters since 2020.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. And we're going to dive into the details of this report and what it means for taxpayers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A House subcommittee is also accusing the Biden administration of censoring the online speech of Americans with the help of big tech covering their tracks.
--:-- John Bickley: And we'll be discussing that report and what it means for free speech.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And finally, New York City is seeking to slice emissions from pizzerias that use coal and wood fire ovens.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And we'll be talking to a Daily Wire contributor who's been following this story.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned for the news you need to know.
--:-- [Discussion continues with a report on the COVID relief funds]
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: A report from the SBA Office of the Inspector General found that $200 billion in COVID relief was given to potential fraudulent actors between March of 2020 and January of 2022.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a staggering number. Break down these new numbers for us.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: The report found that $64 billion was stolen from the Paycheck Protection Program, and $136 billion was stolen from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.
--:-- John Bickley: And what's the total amount of tax dollars that were distributed for these programs?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: $1.2 trillion.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what's the estimated percentage of fraud in these programs?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Fraud experts say that you can generally expect about 5% of fraud in any organization. This is estimated at more than triple that, at about 17%.
--:-- John Bickley: And isn't this report focused on money given specifically to small businesses?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: That's right. This report focused on four programs from the Small Business Administration, and there were 426 federal programs that distributed pandemic relief aid.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about the unemployment insurance program? Was that also hit hard by fraud?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yes, the unemployment insurance program was also hit hard by fraud, and it's estimated that tens of billions of dollars were stolen from that program.
--:-- John Bickley: And how did this happen? Was it just government incompetence?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: I think we can expect some government incompetence, but these numbers are pretty eye-opening. The SBA is basically denying the estimate from the IG's office, saying that $200 billion estimate is way too high.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about the recovery of this money? Has any been recovered?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: So far, some $30 billion has been recovered, and there have been over 1,000 indictments, 800 arrests, and there are currently 570 investigations ongoing.
--:-- John Bickley: And what about the specifics of the scams that were pulled off by these fraudsters?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: The report outlined a number of different cases, including fraudulent or stolen employee identification numbers being used for grants or loans, and scams pulled off with phony email addresses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about the recovery of this money? Is it possible to recover any of it?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Most of the losses have been deemed unrecoverable, but there are still ongoing investigations and efforts to recover some of the money.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting on this, Amanda.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Discussion continues with a report on the Biden administration's censorship of online speech]
--:-- Brandon Dre: A new report from the U.S. Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government says that an agency within the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security conspired with big tech to censor American online speech.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what's the latest on this story, Brandon?
--:-- Brandon Dre: The committee obtained non-public documents from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA for short, which revealed that officials within the agency considered creating a so-called anti-misinformation rapid response team.
--:-- John Bickley: And what's the most damning portion of this report?
--:-- Brandon Dre: The most damning portion of this report is that the agency scrubbed any proof of surveillance or censorship activities from its website.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And when did all of this happen, and what type of information did the agency target?
--:-- Brandon Dre: CISA was initially created in 2018 to focus on protecting critical infrastructure and countering cybersecurity threats, but it began to target American speech on social media in the run-up to the 2020 election and into the midterm elections last year.
--:-- John Bickley: And what type of information did the agency target?
--:-- Brandon Dre: They mainly censored information surrounding voter fraud or other election-related issues and content related to the pandemic.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And has the government and CISA responded to this report?
--:-- Brandon Dre: Yeah, so I reached out to them and they denied the report as patently false, saying CISA does not and has never censored speech or facilitated censorship.
--:-- John Bickley: And what's next here? Is there going to be any oversight or changes made to this organization?
--:-- Brandon Dre: It seems like the name of the game these days is there's a lot of talk and no action.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for coming on, Brandon.
--:-- Brandon Dre: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Discussion continues with a report on New York City's plan to reduce emissions from pizzerias]
--:-- David Marcus: A new plan from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection requires some pizza places using wood and coal fire ovens to reduce their carbon emissions by 75%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what's the reaction been to this plan, Dave?
--:-- David Marcus: Well, there's been a lot of outrage, especially from the pizza community.
--:-- John Bickley: And what's the nature of the expense that owners of these restaurants are facing?
--:-- David Marcus: They need to install air purification systems that start at about a pop, and then also pay to maintain those systems, which isn't cheap.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what's the fear that this could shut down some of these restaurants?
--:-- David Marcus: The fear is that this is an economic straw that could break the camel's back.
--:-- John Bickley: And isn't this plan only a draft so far?
--:-- David Marcus: That's right. This plan is only a draft, so it's possible that it could be reversed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about the deeper problem of creeping regulation?
--:-- David Marcus: This is just one example of a larger problem. There are many measures along these lines that the public never really finds out about, at least until it's too late.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for joining us, Dave.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we have for today. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
