Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following remarks during floor debate on H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act.
As prepared for delivery.
“The American people supported President Trump in November because he pledged to eliminate waste and fraud in government.
“There is no better example of what President Trump is talking about than the rampant fraud the Ways and Means Committee has uncovered in the COVID-era unemployment insurance program. This money was supposed to help workers and their families through a crisis, instead it was stolen by fraudsters and criminals.
“According to government estimates, between $100 and $135 billion of UI benefits were stolen during the pandemic. Outside estimates range as high as $400 billion. That’s higher than the economy of my home state of Missouri and about twenty other states.
“It is the greatest theft of tax dollars in U.S. history.
“So far, the government has only recovered about $5 billion. As we stand here, there are over 157,000 open UI fraud hotline complaints and more than 1,600 ongoing fraud investigations.
“This is a must-pass bill. The statute of limitations for these investigations starts to run out in 16 days, on March 27th. If we don’t extend it, the criminals who stole money from the pockets of taxpayers – and continue to do so to this day – will get away.
“The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is simple: it doubles the statute of limitations from five to ten years so we can prosecute and recover hundreds of billions of stolen tax dollars.
“We did this in the 117th Congress, when Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously to extend the statute of limitations for fighting fraud in other COVID-era programs plagued by criminal theft.
“This legislation deserves the same strong bipartisan support. Yet, during our markup not a single Ways and Means Democrat voted for this bill.
“Let me preview some of the fearmongering you’re going to hear today.
“First, Committee Democrats will argue that giving law enforcement more time to prosecute fraud will lead to ‘surprise bills,’ or targeting of innocent Americans who accidentally received an overpayment.
“This is false. DOJ is focused on prosecuting sophisticated criminals who maliciously de-frauded the government, including international crime rings, online scammers, and gangs that are using tax dollars to illegally purchase firearms and commit crime.
“This is not about going after grandma who made a mistake on her form. Anyone making that claim is simply not telling the truth. That isn’t happening today, and it wouldn’t happen tomorrow. All this bill does is simply extend the investigations ongoing today.
“Second, Democrats claim that rescinding $5 million dollars to offset the cost of the bill is a bridge too far. This is money sitting over at Department of Labor unused.
“With over 1,600 open investigations, Democrats should be more concerned about what their constituents and American taxpayers have to lose if this doesn’t get done.
“Third, you will hear complaints about items completely unrelated to this bill like DOGE or the streamlining of the federal government to make it work better for the American taxpayer.
“I understand that my colleagues on the other side may want to use their floor time to discuss those issues, but that is not what the bill in front of us is about. It is simply about continuing ongoing efforts to recoup tens of billions criminally taken from the American taxpayer.
“A no vote is a vote to allow these criminals to keep what they stole.
“It’s a vote to surrender to fraudsters. And it’s a vote that says to Americans: we don’t care about your hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
” urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.”