Vitter: Crackdown on Welfare Fraud to Fund Unemployment Extension

Washington is still working on making a deal to extend long-term unemployment benefits.  Senator David Vitter told 710 KEEL he doesn't mind extending it, but there needs to be a way to pay for it.

Vitter said he and fellow Republicans want "a full debate and amendment process so we can put up ideas to create jobs to lower unemployment, not just extend benefits, because that's the most significant part of the challenge."

And to extend those benefits, Vitter said there have to be cuts somewhere.  When asked where he would get the money, he knew exactly where to go.

"Put in measures to counteract fraud which unfortunately is rampant, that's been documented in the child tax credit," explained the Republican senator.  "That's a refundable credit.  In other words, a check the government sends out."

Vitter explained that what often happens is that the checks just get sent out without being verified where they are going.

"We've been paying several billion dollars in improper checks, for instance, to illegal alien families," Vitter noted.

Democrats and Republicans are currently discussing how long the benefits should be extended and the necessary concessions to make a deal to work.  Democrats have been pushing for an extension until this fall with an additional year of sequester.  Republicans have been open to an extension, but want the extension to be paid for.