As prepared for delivery.
“Thank you all for joining us for the first Work and Welfare Subcommittee hearing of the new Congress.
“Today’s hearing is focused on prosecuting fraudsters for stealing billions in unemployment benefits from American workers.
“I want to thank our witnesses for traveling here and for your commitment to helping us further understand this important issue and what is at stake.
“Before we start, I want to welcome the new Members of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee. As the returning Chairman of this subcommittee, we have a unique opportunity to build on our past bipartisan work and I look forward to working with all of you.
“My name is Darin LaHood and I represent Illinois’ 16th District, covering much of the central and northwestern parts of the state.
“The purpose of today’s hearing is to learn how Congress can hold fraudsters and criminal organizations accountable by extending the statute of limitations for CARES Act-related unemployment insurance fraud – which will expire on March 27, 2025, without Congressional action.
“The Ways and Means Committee has conducted considerable oversight since the UI program’s weaknesses were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In February of 2023, the Committee held a hearing with government witnesses from GAO and the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee who testified to problems with outdated state systems and weak online security that made the program vulnerable to fraud.
“Subsequently, in May of 2023, the House-passed the ‘Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act.’ The bill would have extended the statute of limitations for an additional 5 years and incentivized states to go after fraud and recover funds. It also included program integrity reforms to stop the ‘pay and chase’ model of benefit delivery.
“Unfortunately, those reforms fell short of becoming law and Congressional action is still needed.
“All told, for the unemployment insurance program alone, GAO has estimated between $100-$135 billion was lost to fraud during the pandemic. That number is astounding.
“Even more concerning, the Department of Labor tells us that only $5 billion has been recovered.
“Meanwhile, we know law enforcement agencies have thousands of cases pending.
“The Department of Justice has charged more than 600 criminal UI fraud cases with associated losses of over $300 million.
“As of January 28th of this year, DOJ reports that more than 1,600 criminal matters remain open and uncharged.
“Without an extension of the statute of limitations, these instances of suspected pandemic UI fraud will go unpunished.
“First and foremost, we need to provide law enforcement with the tools and resources to hold fraudsters accountable while pursuing reforms that can stop this type of UI fraud from happening again.
“Congress must act quickly to extend the statute of limitations. I hope that in the coming weeks we can work together in a bipartisan fashion to pass legislation to do that and get a bill across the finish line before March 27th.
“In addition, we need to examine how international crime rings and hostile nation states continue to target the UI program. There are countless examples of criminals, foreign and domestic, deploying sophisticated schemes to defraud the government and UI recipients.
“For example, my staff recently shared with me a press release from the Department of Justice – shown on the board behind me – announcing a Pennsylvania man pled guilty to obtaining $59 million in public benefits, including unemployment, and laundering the proceeds to China.
“As a Member of the House Select Committee on China, cases like this are deeply concerning to me and confirm our worst fears regarding the attacks on our institutions by hostile nations such as China.
“I strongly believe we have a responsibility to bring accountability back to Washington and find out what we can do to bring restitution for taxpayers in the face of such staggering amounts of fraud.
“There is a lot more work to be done to hold criminals accountable through the criminal justice system and recoup billions of dollars on behalf of American taxpayers.
“I want to again thank our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to your testimony.”