Ernst Bill Pursuing $200 Billion in COVID Fraud Advances

WASHINGTON – The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship passed Chair Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) Complete COVID Collections Act to extend the life of the watchdog tasked with tracking down criminals who stole COVID relief designed for small businesses.

Ernst led several of her Republican colleagues in introducing the bill after the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) warned its authority was expiring and con artists would get away with stealing more than $200 billion.

“I will not allow fraudsters to get away with stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers,” said Ernst. “We are going to recoup every cent and end the cycle in Washington of shrugging off a few billion here and a few hundred million there. That irresponsible mindset is why the federal government is more than $36 trillion in debt. I’m proud to lead this step forward to treat tax dollars like a family treats its budget instead of like a bottomless slush fund.”

The bill is cosponsored by Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and John Curtis (R-Utah).

“Programs designed to provide relief to our small businesses were repeatedly taken advantage of, leaving small businesses hurting and taxpayers on the hook,” said Young. “I’m glad to see this effort to recover taxpayer dollars and protect Americans from fraud and abuse pass out of committee. I look forward to voting for this bill on the Senate floor.”

“During the pandemic, small business owners in need of financial assistance were turned away because criminals, gang members, and drug traffickers stole money from the relief program,” said Blackburn. “This legislation would help ensure we recoup every penny of funding that was wrongly awarded to criminals who gamed the system.”

“Family-owned businesses in Utah played the rules and used COVID-19 relief funds as intended, but bad actors exploited the system and defrauded taxpayers,” said Curtis. “By extending oversight authority over these programs, our legislation strengthens enforcement efforts and holds criminals accountable for stealing from the American people. I’m proud to see our bill pass out of the Small Business Committee.”

Click here to view the bill text.

Background:

While SBA ran the relief programs on a “first come, first serve” basis, the money ran out quickly, and many qualifying businesses were turned away as felons, gang members, and drug traffickers raked in cash. Some swindlers uploaded pictures of Barbie dolls as photo identification on SBA loan applications that were approved.

One alleged fraudster took home $8 million while nearly 2,000 struggling restaurants in Iowa were left empty-handed. Ernst detailed this in her report titled Small Business COVID-19 Fraud: Three Years Later State of Play – where she 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.

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