Ernst Applauds SBA Cracking Down on Fraud

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) applauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) for implementing strong, new protections to its loan application process to protect against fraudsters.

The changes come after an Ernst-requested investigation exposed that $5.4 billion in loans were given to individuals without Social Security numbers, including $312 million to individuals claiming to be children under the age of 11, as part of the more than $200 billion in fraud that plagued pandemic-era loan programs. 

“Criminals have stolen hundreds of billions from taxpayers over the last few years because the SBA lacked basic safeguards,” said Ernst. “I am glad to see Administrator Loeffler continue to refocus the agency on its core mission of serving Main Street by ensuring that tax dollars designed to help small businesses actually do so, instead of getting stolen by criminals. I will keep working to hold con artists who stole from the SBA accountable and recoup every cent.”
 

Some of the commonsense measures taken by the SBA include citizenship verification, date of birth verification, and automatic fraud alerts for any applicant claiming to be younger than 18 years old or older than 115 years of age. 

Background:

Ernst has relentlessly pursued COVID fraud to ensure criminals are held accountable.

After a shocking report revealed that the Biden SBA failed to pursue nearly two million individuals suspected of stealing pandemic aid, Ernst introduced the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act to extend the statute of limitations to 10 years for key pandemic aid programs to ensure every bad actor who stole from taxpayers is caught.

In a comprehensive 2023 report, Ernst outlined the Biden SBA’s effort to discount the full extent of fraud and cast doubt on the legitimate estimates made by expert investigators.

Ernst’s tireless advocacy forced the Biden administration to eventually take action to recover billions in COVID aid in January 2024.

Last month, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship advanced Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Ernst’s Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act which prevents criminals convicted of defrauding the SBA from receiving future assistance from the agency.

###