We are always praying that corruption be exposed and that the vulnerable be protected. Let’s pray also that justice is done.

From Yahoo News. The acting Social Security commissioner will launch a “full investigation” on Monday of Inspector General Gail Ennis’s oversight of an anti-fraud program that imposed extensive penalties on disabled and elderly people, a senior agency official said Saturday.

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The action follows a Washington Post report that revealed how attorneys in charge of a little-known program run by Social Security’s watchdog division issued unprecedented fines starting during the Trump administration.

More than 100 people who received disability benefits to which they were not entitled were hit with penalties as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those fines were imposed on poor, disabled and elderly people, many of whom had no hope of ever being able to pay.

The acting commissioner “has very serious concerns about the issues raised by The Washington Post about the inspector general’s oversight of this program,” Scott Frey, chief of staff to Kilolo Kijakazi, said in an interview. Kijakazi has scheduled a meeting with her senior staff on Monday “to discuss how to proceed,” Frey said.

Top House Democrats with oversight of the Social Security Administration and its watchdog also called on President Biden to investigate, calling the penalties an “apparent abuse of authority.”

“We are outraged by this stunning report,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.; Social Security subcommittee Chairman John Larson, D-Conn.; and worker and family support subcommittee Chairman Danny Davis, D-Ill., wrote in a statement late Friday.

The lawmakers called on the president and Kijakazi to “swiftly investigate this apparent abuse of authority, to put in place safeguards to prevent future abuse, and to provide relief to any individuals wrongfully victimized.”

A White House official said in an email, “We are aware of the reporting but have no further comment at this time.”

A spokesman for the Senate Finance Committee, which also has jurisdiction over Social Security, said the committee is “evaluating a number of steps” in response to the article.

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(Excerpt from Yahoo News. Photo Credit:  Photo by micheile dot com on Unsplash)