[Pages H1093-H1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD ENFORCEMENT ACT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 211,
I call up the bill (H.R. 1156) to amend the CARES Act to extend the
statute of limitations for fraud under certain unemployment programs,
and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the
House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the
amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on
Ways and Means, printed in the bill, is adopted and the bill, as
amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

H.R. 1156

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR FRAUD BY
INDIVIDUALS UNDER CERTAIN UNEMPLOYMENT
PROGRAMS.

(a) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.--Section 2102 of the
CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9021) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following new
subsection:
``(h) Statute of Limitations.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law and subject to paragraph (2), any criminal prosecution or
civil enforcement action for a violation of, or conspiracy to
violate, section 371, 641, 1028A, 1029, 1341, 1343, 1344,
1349, 1956, or 1957 of title 18, United States Code, or
section 3729 or 3801 of title 31, United States Code, with
respect to any unemployment compensation claim funded in
whole or in part by pandemic unemployment assistance under
this section shall be brought not later than 10 years after
the date of the violation or conspiracy.
``(2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply with
respect to a criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action
if the statute of limitations applicable to such criminal
prosecution or civil enforcement action expired prior to the
date of enactment of the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
Enforcement Act.''.
(b) Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Mixed
Earner Unemployment Compensation.--Section 2104(f) of the
CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9023(f)) is amended by adding at the end
the following new paragraph:
``(5) Statute of limitations.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law and subject to subparagraph (B), any criminal prosecution
or civil enforcement action for a violation of, or conspiracy
to violate, section 371, 641, 1028A, 1029, 1341, 1343, 1344,
1349, 1956, or 1957 of title 18, United States Code, or
section 3729 or 3801 of title 31, United States Code, with
respect to any unemployment compensation claim funded in
whole or in part by Federal Pandemic Unemployment
Compensation or Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation under
this section shall be brought not later than 10 years after
the date of the violation or conspiracy.
``(B) Exception.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply with
respect to a criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action
if the statute of limitations applicable to such criminal
prosecution or civil enforcement action expired prior to the

[[Page H1094]]

date of enactment of the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
Enforcement Act.''.
(c) Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.--Section
2107(e) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9025(e)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(5) Statute of limitations.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law and subject to subparagraph (B), any criminal prosecution
or civil enforcement action for a violation of, or conspiracy
to violate, section 371, 641, 1028A, 1029, 1341, 1343, 1344,
1349, 1956, or 1957 of title 18, United States Code, or
section 3729 or 3801 of title 31, United States Code, with
respect to any unemployment compensation claim funded in
whole or in part by Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
Compensation under this section shall be brought not later
than 10 years after the date of the violation or conspiracy.
``(B) Exception.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply with
respect to a criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action
if the statute of limitations applicable to such criminal
prosecution or civil enforcement action expired prior to the
date of enactment of the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
Enforcement Act.''.

SEC. 3. BUDGET OFFSET.

Out of the unobligated balances of amounts made available
by section 2118(a) of title II of division A of Public Law
116-136, as added by section 9032 of Public Law 117-2,
$5,000,000 are hereby rescinded.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the
date of enactment of this Act.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for
1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking
minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective
designees.
The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Davis) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.

General Leave

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, 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. It was stolen by fraudsters and
criminals. According to government estimates, between $100 billion and
$135 billion of UI benefits were stolen during the pandemic.
Outside estimates range as high as $400 billion. That is higher than
the economy of my home State of Missouri and about 20 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 27. 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 5 to 10 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 and 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
fear-mongering you are going to hear today on this floor.
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
completely false.
DOJ is focused on prosecuting sophisticated criminals who maliciously
defrauded the government, including international crime rings, online
scammers, and gangs that are using tax dollars to illegally purchase
firearms and commit crimes.
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 won't happen tomorrow. All this bill does is
simply extend the investigations ongoing today.
Second, Democrats claim that rescinding $5 million to offset the cost
of this bill is a bridge too far. This is unused money sitting over at
the Department of Labor. 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, Mr. Speaker, you will hear complaints about items 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 all about. It is simply about continuing ongoing
efforts to recoup tens of billions of dollars criminally taken from the
American taxpayer.
A ``no'' vote is a vote to allow these criminals to keep the money
they stole from taxpayers. It is a vote to surrender to fraudsters. It
is a vote that says to Americans we don't care about their hard-earned
taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation,
and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to reluctantly oppose H.R. 1156 that would extend
the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance fraud
for 5 years.
During the pandemic, criminal actors and fraud rings took advantage
of overwhelmed State unemployment offices and unqualified contractors
to steal billions of dollars from American taxpayers. Like the rest of
my Democratic colleagues, I have strongly supported the Department of
Labor Inspector General's, or OIG, efforts to serve justice and recover
taxpayer dollars.
We opposed Republican cuts to the OIG budget that slowed their work.
Then 2 years ago, when the inspector general recommended we extend the
statute of limitations for specific crimes to allow more time for
prosecution of criminal rings, we tried to work with our Republican
colleagues on a bill to accomplish that.
Why then am I opposing this bill today? Just before this bill was
introduced, President Trump illegally fired the very inspector general
who recommended this extension of the statute of limitations and who
led the OIG's work to prosecute criminal rings, securing 1,400
convictions and over $1 billion in court-ordered restitution. President
Trump also illegally fired 16 other nonpartisan inspectors general, the
same officials we depend on to fight fraud and hold agencies
accountable.

Since that time, we have seen Elon Musk and his DOGE team sweep
through Federal agencies, firing experts, demanding access to American
citizens' most sensitive identity and financial information, and
levying unfounded accusations of fraud at Federal program
beneficiaries, even at Social Security recipients.
One in four Americans received pandemic unemployment benefits. Many
of them unknowingly received modest overpayments, often because of
State or contractor errors. For example, Arkansas businesses received
specific instructions from the Arkansas unemployment office about how
their workers should report income on their pandemic unemployment
applications. Unfortunately, this guidance was incorrect, resulting in
overpayments.
Consequently, the Arkansas unemployment office applied to the
Department of Labor for permission to waive overpayments to employees
whose employers gave them incorrect information. These workers did
nothing wrong, but the bill today would allow the DOGE team to falsely
claim these workers defrauded the government and file criminal charges
10 years after they spent the funds on rent and food to survive the
pandemic.

[[Page H1095]]

Extending the statute of limitations without a Senate-confirmed
nonpartisan inspector general and without any guardrails limiting the
extension to serious criminals could put every American who lost their
job during the pandemic at risk of harassment and accusations of fraud.
Given the false accusations of rampant fraud by Federal program
beneficiaries, coupled with the administration's stopping enforcement
against criminal activity by certain foreign adversaries, any extension
of the statute of limitations needs guardrails in the law to protect
workers who were unemployed during the pandemic.
I filed an amendment to limit the extension to cases with an expected
recovery of at least $100,000, which is standard practice at the Office
of Inspector General right now. I am deeply disappointed that my
amendment that would simply codify current practice was not made in
order so that I could support the bill.
This bill will also cut the Department of Labor's limited budget to
support State fraud prevention, including criminal identity
verification tools.
As unemployment surges across the country due to the DOGE firing of
Federal employees and contractors, due to the Trump administration's
illegal cuts to nonprofits and theft of Federal funding, and due to the
Trump trade wars, States will need all the help they can get to pay
benefits accurately and to protect against the same bad actors that
targeted us during the pandemic.
Mr. Speaker, given the failure of this Republican bill to protect the
tens of millions of unemployed workers during the pandemic from the
DOGE witch hunt, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill until
language is included that ensures that the prosecution focus remains on
criminal rings and large-scale fraud rather than overpayments due to
State individual errors.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

{time} 1430

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood), the chairman of
the Work and Welfare Subcommittee.
Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his leadership on
this very important topic.
I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment
Fraud Enforcement Act. This bill extends the statute of limitations for
CARES Act unemployment fraud from 5 to 10 years to provide law
enforcement agencies with more time to go after the fraudsters and
international criminal organizations.
Nearly 5 years after the CARES Act was signed into law, we are facing
the expiration of the statute of limitations for holding criminals
accountable.
Congress must act quickly. We cannot retroactively change criminal
liability for Federal crimes.
As chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, we have done
considerable oversight to investigate the size and scope of
unemployment fraud throughout the pandemic.
GAO estimates between $100 billion and $135 billion, with a b, was
lost to fraud, yet only $5 billion has been recovered.
This February, our subcommittee held a hearing with fraud experts
from across the country. One of our witnesses said that as much as 70
percent of the fraudulent unemployment benefits went to Russian
mobsters, Chinese hackers, and Nigerian scammers.
A recent DOJ case involved a Pennsylvania man obtaining $59 million
in public benefits 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 and the CCP.
Witnesses also told us that fraud is continuing to happen. Fraudsters
are now targeting the disaster unemployment benefits using stolen
identities of California fire victims.
The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is a commonsense bill
that doubles the statute of limitations so we can recover hundreds of
billions of stolen taxpayer dollars.
Prosecuting bad actors has a ripple effect that will deter crime and
prevent additional losses to the Federal Government and American
taxpayers.
The DOJ has more than 1,600 open, uncharged COVID-19 criminal
matters, and the Department of Labor inspector general has yet to
investigate 157,000 UI fraud hotline complaints.
This bill is simple. Once the statute of limitations expires, these
cases will go cold and criminals will go unpunished.
Let me be clear. A vote against this bill is a vote to surrender to
fraudsters and criminals. Don't let the criminals and fraudsters win.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).
Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, today Republicans offer a truly remarkable
answer to unemployment insurance fraud, and that is to make a big cut
in those who are already fighting unemployment insurance fraud and
abuse.
Likely gone will be the resources for providing the States access to
databases that they use to prevent fraud by confirming identities.
Once again, arithmetic is just simply not a Republican friend. They
cut $5 million from antifraud efforts that are going on today to
produce a savings of $500,000 over a 10-year period according to the
independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which estimates
that any additional recoveries from their sorry bill of overpaid
benefits would be insignificant.
This rash Republican move comes on top of Elon Musk's slash-and-burn
rampage through our government. Who knows how many civil servants have
already been fired whose principal responsibility is to fight fraud;
not only the fraud that has occurred in the past but some shyster who
has come up with a new approach?
As the sponsor of antifraud legislation myself, legislation which Mr.
Smith has refused to consider to prevent some bilking of Medicaid, I
can tell the difference between a real antifraud measure and one
advanced on behalf of administration extremists who don't believe in
unemployment insurance in the first place.
This bill's true objective is to penalize working Americans who,
through no fault of their own, both lost their jobs during the pandemic
and then received mistaken amounts of overpayment thereafter. Now,
years later, instead of accepting responsibility for the failure of the
first Trump administration in improperly making those overpayments done
first by the Trump administration itself and in failing to establish
safeguards so that there would not be overpayments, Republicans instead
are shifting the blame from Trump's wrongs to workers that did not
commit the wrongs in the first place.
This bill is just another part of the Trump-Musk fake war on fraud,
waste, and abuse--big claims, big, big claims, no proof of genuine
savings. Really it is all about wrecking programs like unemployment
insurance that the extremist Project 2025 said they wanted to eliminate
even though they don't actually help taxpayers.
One thing we can be sure of is that with Trump we have no
accountability, no transparency, and no watchdogs. That is why he moved
quickly to fire at least 17 inspectors general in different agencies,
including the Department of Labor Inspector General Larry Turner.
At the very time he was fired, Mr. Turner received no cause for being
fired, of course, because the real cause was they didn't want a
watchdog there. He was about fighting fraud. He was prosecuting large,
sophisticated criminal rings responsible for stealing hundreds of
millions of dollars in other ways.
Make no mistake, if they had really wanted to target those who are
taking this money unfairly in a criminal way, they would have taken Mr.
Davis' amendment to prioritize those who are doing the most damage. I
believe that Trump, Musk, and House Republican enablers here today are
much more interested in brash declarations than in genuine savings.

They have made clear that their number one priority in our committee
is not unemployment fraud but more tax breaks for plutocrats by
shifting more of the tax burden to working families and irresponsibly
increasing by trillions of dollars the size of our national debt.

[[Page H1096]]

I would urge rejection of this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Yesterday, my colleagues introduced an amendment that would limit
prosecution of fraud cases with at least $100,000 in stolen funds.
Apparently, Mr. Speaker, Democrats want to give some criminals a get-
out-of-jail-free card.
Let me give you an example of what that looks like. A woman from
Rockford, Iowa, was sentenced to more than a year in prison for
receiving $45,000 in unemployment benefits from eight different States
using stolen identities and laundering the proceedings through
cryptocurrency.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a September 20, 2022, release
from the United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Iowa
titled: ``Iowa Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for COVID-19 Related
Benefit Fraud and Money Laundering.''

Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

Iowa Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for COVID-19 Related Benefit
Fraud and Money Laundering

mendenhall received over $45,000 in fraudulently obtained benefits and
laundered most of the funds by purchasing cryptocurrency

A Rockford, Iowa woman who received unemployment benefits
in other people's names, and laundered most of those funds
through cryptocurrency transactions, was sentenced September
20, 2022, to more than a year in federal prison.
Stephanie Mendenhall, age 53, from Rockford, Iowa, received
the prison term after a March 24, 2022, guilty plea to four
counts of theft of government funds and one count of money
laundering conspiracy. At the plea hearing, Mendenhall
admitted to facilitating false claims for unemployment
insurance benefits, which were intended for those in need due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the names of other people and
allowing those funds to be deposited into bank accounts she
owned or controlled. Mendenhall received fraudulent
unemployment benefits paid through the states of Maine,
Michigan, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and
Illinois, including benefits related to COVID-19 relief
funds, to which she was not entitled. Mendenhall received at
least $35,985 in false unemployment benefits. Mendenhall
spent some of the money on herself, but laundered the
majority of it by purchasing cryptocurrency and sending it to
a co-conspirator. After being indicted in this case, while on
pretrial release, Mendenhall attempted to deposit counterfeit
checks into other bank accounts she owned.
Mendenhall was sentenced in Sioux City by United States
District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Mendenhall was
sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment. She was also ordered to
make $46,378.31 in restitution to the states of Maine,
Michigan, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and
Illinois. She must also serve a 2-year term of supervised
release after the prison term. There is no parole in the
federal system.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the
COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the
resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and
prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters
efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable
domestic and international criminal actors and assists
agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent
fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating
existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes,
and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained
from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the
Department's response to the pandemic, please visit <a href='https://
www.justice.gov/coronavirus'>https://
www.justice.gov/coronavirus</a>.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted
fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the
Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud
(NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint
Form at: <a href='https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf/
disaster-complaint-form'>https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf/
disaster-complaint-form</a>.
Mendenhall is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a
date yet to be set.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States
Attorneys Ron Timmons and Tim Vavricek and was investigated
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of
Labor's Office of Inspector General.
Court file information at <a href='https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/
cgi-bin/login.pl'>https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/
cgi-bin/login.pl</a>.
The case file number is 21-3028.

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. A criminal, Mr. Speaker, is a criminal no
matter how much they steal from the American taxpayers. H.R. 1156 is a
must-pass bill for anyone interested in enforcing the rule of law.
I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York
(Ms. Malliotakis).
Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
It is unconscionable to me that our colleagues on the other side are
actually continuing to fight to protect fraudsters, going so far as to
even say that if they just stole $500,000 that they should not be
prosecuted.
We House Republicans are fighting for transparency. We are fighting
to protect taxpayers. We are exposing the waste, the fraud, and the
abuse, including an estimated $100 billion to $135 billion in pandemic
unemployment fraud, money that was paid for by the hardworking
taxpayers of this country to help people who are going through a tough
time during the COVID pandemic.
Sadly, my State of New York ranks near the top of the list with an
estimated $11 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits. The precious
taxpayer dollars went to fraudsters, many overseas, including China,
Russia, and Nigeria. They even went to dead people and inmates in
prison.
Criminals spent their money on luxury items like Rolex watches; fancy
furnishings; items from Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and Gucci; and even a
$10 million villa in the Dominican Republic. One spent $3.5 million on
a mansion in New Jersey; a chartered private jet; Porsches, Ferraris,
Bentleys, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benz. Another received over $1.5 million
over a span of 10 months.
Meanwhile, my district offices in Staten Island and Brooklyn had to
help dozens of constituents who had their identities stolen and could
not get the unemployment benefits they desperately needed. This is
about fixing something that went badly wrong to not just recoup
taxpayers' money but to ensure it doesn't happen again.
This bill will help crack down on this type of fraud and would extend
the statute of limitations that law enforcement needs to pursue
criminal charges or civil actions and also incentivizes States to help
us crack down and recover these fraudulent payments, and it puts in
checks and balances to stop future unemployment insurance payments from
going to incarcerated and deceased people.
To date, only $5 billion or less, about 4 percent of this massive
fraud, has been recovered. This statute of limitations for prosecuting
fraud in COVID-19 pandemic-era unemployment insurance will expire on
March 27, and there are roughly 1,000 open cases investigating that
fraud. We must allow law enforcement to do their work.
I gladly support this bill because I am on the side of the
hardworking, tax-paying American who have had to foot this bill while
my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to defend and
protect the criminals and the fraudsters.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).
Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. This
partisan-charged bill targets innocent workers who lost their jobs
during the pandemic, received unemployment benefits, spent them in good
faith to pay for necessities, and had no idea that their States made
mistakes in paying their benefits.
Sadly, my Republican colleagues are using this bill to throw millions
of Americans' lives and livelihoods into instability.
This financial attack on my constituents required them to then
reimburse the Federal Government for a mistake that they did not make,
upending their ability to pay their rent, leaving families homeless,
upending their ability to purchase school supplies or make a car
payment resulting in the loss of transportation that gets them to their
jobs.
For people living on the margins of poverty, they don't have a
financial cushion to fall back on when a surprise bill like this one is
thrown into their family. It will cause major disarray.
This bill is not about addressing fraud. Republicans are simply using
this opportunity to wage war on individuals themselves who did no
wrong.
I encourage my colleagues to vote against this bill.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).

[[Page H1097]]

Mr. ESTES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I
thank him for introducing this commonsense piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Pandemic
Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. Before I get into my planned
remarks, I want to fact check some of my colleagues on the other side
of the aisle attacking President Trump, claiming that laid off Federal
workers are being prevented from receiving unemployment.

{time} 1445

We have been in touch with the Department of Labor. They have
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, despite
their pushback on the Trump administration's actions, that they want to
cut waste, fraud, and abuse. Today, they can prove it.
The bill we are 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 of UI fraud in my home State of Kansas. 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 these criminals.
This should be an easy ``yes'' for everyone in the Chamber.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).
Ms. CHU. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 1156.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic's start, Democrats have gone after the
criminal fraud rings that stole from our pandemic unemployment
insurance programs and empowered our partners across the Federal
Government.
Today's Republican bill is so hypocritical. It completely ignores
President Trump's illegal termination of the nonpartisan inspector
general responsible for that very work. Before he was fired, it was
Inspector General Larry Turner's leadership investigating UI fraud that
resulted in over 2,000 individuals charged, 1,400 convictions, and more
than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars recovered.
In fact, it was IG Turner who had recommended that Congress extend
the statute of limitations in the first place. It is outrageous that
Republicans now want to act on the IG's recommendation but refuse to
address the illegal firing of IG Turner and 18 other nonpartisan
inspectors general across the Federal Government.
Further, Republicans refuse to even consider my and Congress Member
DelBene's amendment, which would have extended the statute of
limitations for 6 additional months and would have allowed for the full
10-year extension only if the President either reappoints IG Turner or
appoints another Senate-confirmed individual for the role.
This would have been the responsible thing for Congress to do. Keep
the door open for now on investigating and prosecuting this fraud while
also ensuring we have a competent, Senate-confirmed inspector general
leading the charge.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Yakym).
Mr. YAKYM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act.
Unemployment insurance, or UI, fraud ran rampant during the pandemic.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that pandemic-era
unemployment insurance fraud totaled $135 billion. That is about 15
percent of total UI benefits during the pandemic. Other estimates
estimate that UI fraud ran up to $400 billion.
California alone accounts for $20 billion to $33 billion of
fraudulent pandemic UI payments. One estimate put the State's improper
payment rate at almost 37 percent during the first 6 months of the
pandemic.
This fraud isn't just a blatant waste of hardworking taxpayer
dollars. It completely undermines Americans' faith in the system, in
our management of taxpayer-funded programs.
The Hoosiers who I represent expect more from their government, as
they should.
Despite these egregious levels of fraud, we have recovered only $5
billion, or less than 4 percent, of fraudulent payments. As of January,
the Department of Justice had over 1,600 open, uncharged criminal
matters relating to COVID-19 fraud. Additionally, the Department of
Labor has approximately 157,000 open UI fraud complaints assigned to
its hotline office.
Unfortunately, the statute of limitations for prosecuting these
fraudsters expires at the end of March. This bill would extend that
deadline for another 5 years so that we can continue to hold these
criminals accountable and recover the stolen funds.
One of our most important responsibilities as Members of Congress is
to be good stewards of taxpayer money. It would be irresponsible not to
take every possible step to recover these fraudulent funds.
This is a commonsense bill, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of it. I
urge its support. I thank Chairman Smith for his leadership on this
bill.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean).
Mr. BEAN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the COVID pandemic is over and so
are many of our problems that disappeared with it, but the mushroom
cloud of fraud still lingers in the air.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn't just reveal cracks in the U.S. relief
programs. It turned them into sinkholes. Due to a lack of guardrails,
fraudsters stole hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars from numerous
pandemic-era programs.

Mr. Speaker, $135 billion is how much was stolen from the American
people in unemployment insurance programs alone. As of today, only a
paltry $5 billion has been recovered. Meanwhile, the statute of
limitations is set to expire on March 27.
Mr. Speaker, letting cheats get away with stealing taxpayer money
would truly be a tragedy.
To the fraudsters, con men, and outright thieves, I have a message to
you from the American people: We want our money back, and this bill is
going to help us get it.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud today to rise in favor of my colleague from
Missouri, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith's bill, H.R.
1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. This must-pass
bill will extend the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution
and civil enforcement actions from 5 to 10 years so the Justice
Department can deliver justice and go after these fraudsters and
recover our money.
The only answer, Mr. Speaker, is to vote ``yes.'' Let's go get them.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran).
Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1156, the
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, introduced by our
chairman, Jason Smith.
It is clearer by the day that the COVID pandemic gave rise to
widespread financial fraud. A prime example of that is the fraudulent
unemployment insurance claims that were filed, which totaled between
$100 billion and $150 billion, most of which happened as a result of
organized crime.

[[Page H1098]]

Incredibly, to date, less than 4 percent of these stolen funds have
been recovered. If we do nothing before March 27, the statute of
limitations to bring these criminal cases against these fraudsters will
come to an end, and the rest of these taxpayer funds will be lost
forever. We cannot allow this to happen, and we must make best efforts
to recover these stolen funds.
Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
Enforcement Act is supported by both red and blue States across the
country. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies, a
nonpartisan association representing all States, endorsed extending the
statute of limitations so that criminal prosecutions and civil
enforcement actions could continue uninterrupted.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the National
Association of State Workforce Agencies, dated February 11, 2025,
supporting passage of H.R. 1156.

National Association of State Workforce Agencies,

Washington DC, February 11, 2025.
Re Support for H.R. 1156.

Hon. Jason Smith,
Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Hon. Richard E. Neal,
Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Neal,
I am writing on behalf of the National Association of State
Workforce Agencies (NASWA), a non-profit and non-partisan
association, whose membership is comprised of workforce
agencies in all states, the District of Columbia, and U.S.
territories. We are writing to support H.R. 1156, the
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act.
State unemployment insurance program administrators are
dedicated to fighting fraud in both state and federal
unemployment insurance programs. With the statute of
limitations expiring at the end of March for federal pandemic
unemployment insurance programs, we support an extension as
proposed in H.R. 1156 to ensure that both criminal
prosecutions and civil enforcement can continue
uninterrupted. While an extension of the statute of
limitations is critical. it is also important to our members
that states continue to receive the resources needed to
pursue fraud cases and support federal investigations.
Thank you for your efforts to improve the integrity of
unemployment insurance.
Sincerely,
Scott B. Sanders,
NASWA President & CEO.

Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, this bill gives States the time they need to
go after criminals who commit acts of malice and intentional fraud
against American taxpayers.
As a proud cosponsor of this legislation, I strongly urge my
colleagues to stand in support of the American taxpayer and stand in
support of passage of this important piece of legislation.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards).
Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his leadership
on this important piece of legislation.
During the pandemic, Congress created three new unemployment benefits
and issued $675 billion in benefits to folks who lost their jobs
because of the pandemic. Since then, the Government Accountability
Office estimates up to $135 billion in fraud nationwide, with some of
the more egregious States, like California and New York, reporting $18
billion and $11 billion, respectively, in fraud alone.
Despite such rampant fraud, only $5 billion, less than 4 percent, has
been recovered.
Without H.R. 1156, the statute of limitations to recover fraud will
expire in just 2 weeks.
Simply put, we cannot let criminals who defrauded the Federal
Government retain over $100 billion of improper payments. That money
rightfully belongs to the American people and must be recovered.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge support of this bill.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley).
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I am quite astonished. I had
every expectation I would be coming to the floor for what would be a
bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. After all, COVID-era
unemployment fraud was the largest fraud of taxpayer dollars in U.S.
history. In California alone, it amounted to some $32 billion.
By the way, California made it really easy. People would submit
claims with the name ``Mickey Mouse,'' or something along those lines,
and it was given no scrutiny as the State ignored the basic fraud
detection procedures that were recommended by the Federal Government.
Because of the scale of this fraud, there is a very small percentage
of the cases that have been prosecuted, and thousands remain
unresolved, so there is the need to extend the statute of limitations.
The question with this bill is: Are we going to allow those cases to
go forward, or are they all going to be dismissed?

{time} 1500

Are we going to hold the perpetrators accountable, or are we going to
let them all go free?
Are we going to try to recover these funds for taxpayers, or are we
going to allow the international criminal syndicates to keep it?
By the way, Mr. Speaker, what do you think they are going to do with
the money? Give it to charity? No. They are going to use it for further
criminal activity.
This is a commonsense measure. I am sure 99.9 percent of Americans
support it, and I sure hope 100 percent of our friends on the other
side of the aisle don't oppose it when it comes for a vote.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Schmidt).
Mr. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the committee for
bringing this bill, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 1156, the
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act.
There is an old expression that we have all heard at one time or
another about the somewhat famous bank robber Willie Sutton. He was
asked: Why do you rob banks? His answer was: Because that is where the
money is.
That is exactly what happened with expanded pandemic unemployment
insurance during the pandemic. We all lived through it. We saw it. I
had a front-row seat as a State law enforcement official at the time.
We saw enormous and unprecedented amounts of money shoveled from this
town out into State unemployment systems that were ill-equipped to
handle it.
Do you know what, Mr. Speaker? We didn't just know that. The
fraudsters, the criminals, and the organized criminal enterprises knew
it, too. They saw opportunity. They saw that is where the money was,
chased it, and stole enormous amounts of money. In the case of my State
of Kansas, a subsequent forensic audit suggests it was about $466
million in documentable stolen pandemic funds.
The question is, what are we going to do about it?
Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what we did about it as State officials
at the time. We looked to our Federal partners. We worked closely.
Everybody was dealing with a circumstance we hadn't seen before. We
were assured that our Federal partners had the tools, capacity, and
reach to exceed our borders and reach out and touch these transnational
criminal organizations operating from overseas that stole money from
our taxpayers right here at home. We deferred. We relied on the
assurances that the Federal Government was going to step up and enforce
the law to its full extent.
Now, here we are, 5 years later, not just by happenstance but because
of decisions made in this body by people who came before us. The sun is
about to set on the ability of the Federal Government to do what it
promised to do because there is a statutorily enacted statute of
limitations that shuts the door on further prosecutions in only a few
short days.
It is within our power to change that decision and to let the Federal
Government follow through on its promise to bring to bear whatever
tools we have to try to recover whatever portion of that remaining
stolen money is able to be recovered.
Why on Earth would we not do that? It is the right thing to do for
our taxpayers, and it is the right thing to do

[[Page H1099]]

for the rule of law. It is just the right thing to do.
We should abandon the ``see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil''
approach that is the status quo. We should adopt this bill, extend the
statute of limitations, and let our dedicated Federal law enforcement
authorities do their jobs to keep chasing this money and bring back
whatever they can find.
Mr. Speaker, I support the bill, and I am grateful for the
leadership.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time to close.
Mr. Speaker, after listening to the comments of Chairman Smith and my
Republican colleagues, it is pretty clear to me that they don't intend
to stay the course, the course that led to 1,400 convictions. It
appears that they really intend to prosecute everybody, the whole
group, everybody involved.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my Democratic colleagues for their thoughtful
comments and ongoing efforts to fight fraud while protecting workers
from harassment.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the bill so that
we can incorporate the guardrails needed to balance our goals of
prosecuting criminals and protecting innocent workers from harassment
by DOGE or others who might misuse this authority. I trust that those
individuals will not have to endure the harassment that often comes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
Mr. Speaker, the folks on the other side of the aisle were referring
to President Trump firing the Department of Labor inspector general
earlier. President Trump campaigned on changing Washington. He is well
within his power to remove members of the executive branch at will, and
it is understandable, Mr. Speaker, that he wants people in his
administration who reflect his views.
The Labor Department's inspector general plays an important role in
identifying fraud but does not charge cases or decide which ones to
prosecute. The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Offices
handle prosecution of Federal crimes. This bill extends the statute of
limitations to ensure the Department of Justice has the time they need
to go after criminals who committed acts of malice and intentional
fraud against American taxpayers.
The criminal activity in the COVID-era unemployment insurance program
represents the largest theft of tax dollars in U.S. history. This money
was supposed to help American families through a once-in-a-lifetime
crisis. Instead, thousands of criminals, including foreign crime rings,
made off with hundreds of billions of dollars.
We know that some of these same groups are continuing to perpetrate
UI fraud targeting disaster victims. Fraudsters are filing claims on
behalf of individuals impacted by fires in your State, Mr. Speaker, and
the North Carolina floods, and then using the money for criminal
activity.
The statute of limitations to prosecute these crimes is set to expire
this month with just 4 percent of the stolen funds having, so far, been
recovered. Criminals are going to get away scot-free unless we pass
this legislation.
Over the past few weeks, Democrats have sued and stonewalled
President Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE over the broader investigation
into how our tax dollars are being spent.
The American people are tired of words. It is time for action. The
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act will buy prosecutors and
law enforcement more time to go after criminals and recoup the money
taxpayers are rightfully owed. It is no wonder this legislation is
widely supported by Federal law enforcement agencies and States.
The American people deserve justice, and now it is up to Congress to
deliver it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McClintock). All time for debate has
expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 211, the previous question is ordered on
the bill, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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