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Biden says those collecting unemployment must take job offers ‘or lose their unemployment benefits’

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Following the release of the April jobs report on Friday, President Biden addressed the public Monday to clarify his unemployment policy. “We’re going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,” Biden said. “That’s the law . . . We’ll insist that the law is followed with respect to benefits.”

“There’s been a lot of discussion . . . that people are getting paid to stay home rather than go to work,” Biden said, referring to the reaction to the lack luster jobs report. “We’re not seeing evidence of that.”

Just before Biden’s statement, Press Secretary Jen Psaki alluded to that same point earlier Monday.

“The majority of economists, internally and externally of the White House, don’t feel that unemployment insurance – something that was done at a time where, to help unemployed people get through a very difficult economic downturn, during a pandemic – is a major driver in our unemployment data, that there are other factors, bigger factors that were contributing,’ Psaki said.

She said one factor could be the low number of vaccinations at the time the data was recorded.

About 22 million people lost their job during this pandemic “to no fault of their own” Biden said. Yet still, there are 8 million fewer jobs today than when the pandemic started.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism

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Economy

House inquiry opened as to whether IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy

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An inquiry has been opened by the House Judiciary Committee as to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy. The inquiry comes after an agency employee was captured in an undercover tape suggesting there was a widespread surveillance operation underway that might not be constitutional, reports Just the News.

The inquiry was opened by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding documents, and answers as to how the agency is currently employing artificial intelligence to comb through bank records to look for possible tax cheats.

The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating why the FBI was obtaining Americans’ bank records, including those who partook in the January 6 Capitol riots, without using search warrants or subpoenas.

Jordan’s and Hageman’s letter said lawmakers have evidence and reason to believe that the IRS and Department of Justice (DOJ) are actively monitoring millions of Americans’ private transactions, bank accounts, and related financial information—without any legal process—using the AI-powered system.

“This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private financial records raises serious doubts about the IRS’s—and the federal government’s—respect for Americans’ fundamental civil liberties,” the letter said.

“So one of the things that I have learned since I’ve been in Congress is that there are quite a few people in government who do not recognize our constitutional protections,” Hageman told Just the News. “They’ve kind of forgotten or at least ignored our Bill of Rights.”

Just the News also reported that the Treasury Department has since acknowledged it has “implemented an enhanced process using AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time by strengthening and expediting processes to recover potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions’ since late 2022.”

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