One good thing about being the federal government is that you can check your own, vast employee records without violating privacy laws. You're the employer. They're the employees. You can check the record to see if they're lying about their employment status or incomes to qualify for welfare programs. The Government Accountability Office seems to be doing this with some frequency, and it's high time. Last month I wrote about a GAO audit that caught people collecting federal heating aid lying about their incomes.

A second GAO study crossed the database of people getting Social Security disablity with databases of federal employees and government-licensed truck drivers. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of the "disabled" workers were drawing paychecks from the U.S. and from transportation companies. Says the GAO:

GAO analysis of SSA and federal salary data found that there are indications that about 1,500 federal civilian employees may have improperly received benefits. In addition, GAO obtained data from 12 selected states and found that 62,000 individuals received or had renewed commercial driver's licenses after SSA determined that the individuals met the federal requirements for full disability benefits. Under DOT regulations, these individuals' eligibility must be medically certified every 2 years. Lastly, GAO found about 7,900 individuals with registered transportation businesses who were receiving SSA disability benefits.

The GAO report even includes video of supposedly disabled employees doing their jobs. Now, if only the GAO could similarly probe the records of private employers, who knows how much fraud they'd find?