The U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship approved a bill on Feb. 10 that would extend the life of the watchdog group tasked with tracking down criminals who stole COVID relief designed for small businesses.
The bill, the Complete COVID Collections Act, S.68, was introduced by committee chair Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).
“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 step forward to treat tax dollars like a family treats its budget instead of like a bottomless slush fund.”
The bill is cosponsored by Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and John Curtis (R-UT).
“Programs designed to provide relief to our small businesses were repeatedly taken advantage of, leaving small businesses hurting and taxpayers on the hook,” Young said. “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.”
Ernst introduced the bill after the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery warned that the authority of the watchdog group was expiring and that con artists would get away with stealing more than $200 billion.
The senator pointed out that one alleged fraudster took home $8 million while nearly 2,000 struggling restaurants in Iowa were left empty-handed.
“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,” Curtis said. “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.”