The bill would preserve the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, a watchdog tasked with tracking down billions in Covid fraud.
One of the Senate’s most vocal champions of reducing government waste and fraud is advancing legislation to continue tracking down fraudulent collections of Covid-19 relief funds.
Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) introduced legislation last month to extend the authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, a watchdog tasked with tracking down billions worth of Covid-19 fraud, and empowering the Treasury Department to collect delinquent loans under $100,000.
Ernst’s bill, the Complete COVID Collections Act, passed through the Senate Small Business Committee Wednesday over Democratic opposition and is now heading to the Senate floor.
“I will not allow fraudsters to get away with stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers,” Ernst said.
“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 action to treat tax dollars like a family treats its budget instead of like a bottomless slush fund.”
Special inspector general Brian Miller wrote Ernst a letter last month urging her to extend its authority as it is currently investigating 42 criminal cases against 130 defendants. Miller told Ernst that the watchdog has achieved over $187.1 million worth of results, more than 300 percent of its budget, but remains deeply concerned about the losses on Covid-19 loan programs.
“Of equal concern is an alarming rate of defaults by borrowers who are failing to pay even the interest payments on the loans for the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) and the Direct Loan Program,” Miller said.
“On December 10, 2024, the Federal Reserve reported MSLP loan losses of $1.27 billion as of November 30, 2024. Loan losses have drastically increased by over $1 billion in the past 17 months since the borrowers’ initial MSLP principal payments became due starting in July 2023.”
The legislation is part of Ernst’s broader fight to improve government efficiency and rein in wasteful spending in tandem with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Billionaire Elon Musk is leading DOGE’s efforts to rein in federal spending and reduce the size of the administrative state. Early on, Musk has sent his team of engineers into various government agencies to evaluate spending and is gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development over its long record of spending taxpayer dollars to further progressive goals.
As the chair of Senate DOGE Caucus, Ernst has fought to combat telework among federal employees and for the sale of hardly used federal properties. Ernst has also recommended the Small Business Administration under President Trump focus on cracking down on Covid-19 fraud and cutting regulatory burdens, tasks she believes Trump’s SBA pick Kelly Loeffler is well equipped to handle.
Ernst is one of many Republicans enthusiastic about working with DOGE of trimming the federal budget and streamlining government operations. On the House side, the DOGE subcommittee is holding a hearing on fraudulent payments with a focus on Covid-19 fraud, as NR reported Thursday.
An estimated $280 billion of fraud was committed against Covid-19 relief programs and another $123 billion was wasted out of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has distributed in Covid-19 assistance.