Last night, the House passed H.R. 1156 – the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act – by a vote of 295-127, with 83 Democrats joining all Republicans voting in favor of the bill. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates $100 to $135 billion in stolen unemployment insurance (UI) benefits with only $5 billion recovered so far. The legislation extends the statute of limitations for combatting and prosecuting the theft of COVID-era unemployment benefits, giving more time for law enforcement to complete current cases, open new ones and recoup billions of taxpayer dollars. Before the House passed the bill, Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas) spoke in support of the legislation.
"We know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans benefited from unemployment insurance," said
Rep. Estes. "But fraudsters took advantage of an overwhelmed system, resulting in more than $100 billion in sham UI payments, including $466 million in UI fraud in my home state of Kansas. But the statute of limitations is fast approaching on March 27, and if Congress doesn’t act, these scammers are off the hook."
View video of Rep. Estes' remarks here.
Full Remarks
Thank you, Chairman Smith, for yielding, and I want to thank you for introducing this common sense legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act.
But before I get into my planned remarks, I want to fact-check some of the colleagues on the other side of the aisle attacking President Trump, claiming that laid-off federal workers are being prevented from receiving unemployment. We’ve been in touch with the Department of Labor, and they’ve published documented guidelines describing filing and eligibility requirements that make it clear federal workers are eligible for unemployment.
The biggest risk to federal workers is not being able to claim their benefits at all because fraudsters got there first.
There have been multiple data breaches at agencies across the government, including the Office of Personnel Management, exposing the personal information of millions of federal workers.
Democrats should be supporting this bill to catch fraudsters that are still out there using stolen identities to file illegitimate claims.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have insisted that, despite their pushback on the Trump administration's actions, they want to cut waste, fraud and abuse. Well today, they can prove it.
The bill we’re debating is really pretty simple. We know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans benefited from unemployment insurance. But fraudsters took advantage of an overwhelmed system, resulting in more than $100 billion in sham UI payments, including $466 million in UI fraud in my home state of Kansas. But the statute of limitations is fast approaching on March 27, and if Congress doesn’t act, these scammers are off the hook.
Our legislation today extends the statute of limitations from 5 to 10 years. With nearly 1,700 open cases, this bill gives the Labor and Justice departments the tools they need to go after the criminals. This should be an easy yes for everyone in this chamber. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.
