House Republicans introduced legislation on Friday to recover billions of dollars that have been stolen related to unemployment benefits.
The bill, H.R. 1163, Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act, would incentivize states to investigate and recover lost funds, fight and prevent any future fraud, and extend the limitations for prosecuting such fraud. A total of up to $400 billion of unemployment benefits may have been lost to fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means.
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“At a time when Americans were suffering from government lockdowns, hundreds of billions were being stolen from those in need," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO). "Yet the Biden administration has ignored the rampant identity theft and fraud that’s left these people devastated. It has kept itself and the American people in the dark about the size and scope of unemployment fraud that was stolen during COVID. House Republicans are now turning on the lights after raising the alarm about this greatest theft of tax dollars in American history."
To help states recover these stolen funds, the Way & Means Committee has introduced this legislation containing several solutions to fix the problem of stolen unemployment insurance.
Incentivize states to recover fraudulent unemployment payments.
Under this new legislation, states would be allowed to keep 25% of all recovered fraudulent overpayments of federal funds. Additionally, the states would be allowed to use recovered funds to improve the integrity of fraud prevention.
Improve program integrity and prevent future fraud.
States would also be allowed to keep 5% of state unemployment insurance overpayments with this new legislation, so long as those overpayments match data on integrity conditions and such funds are dedicated to preventing future fraud.
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Extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud.
Extend the statute of limitations for criminal charges or civil actions for prosecuting fraud from five to 10 years. The Ways and Means Committee is extending this charge to 10 years in response to a recommendation by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.
“Pandemic unemployment fraud may be the greatest heist of American taxpayer dollars in history," said Rep. James Comer (R-KY) "Hundreds of billions of dollars were stolen by fraudsters, foreign adversaries, and international criminals. Not only is this gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, but it’s also a national security threat."