Law Enforcement Forced to Halt Investigations of Unemployment Fraud; Senate Action Needed to Stop “Get Out of Jail Free” Cards for Criminals
It has been over two months since the statute of limitations to prosecute criminals who stole billions in COVID-era unemployment insurance (UI) benefits began to expire, forcing law enforcement to abandon ongoing fraud investigations.
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act (H.R. 1156) to extend the statute from 5 to 10 years and give law enforcement more time to go after fraudsters and recover taxpayer dollars. The U.S. government estimates as much as $135 billion in UI benefits were stolen from American taxpayers during the pandemic; and yet, to date, the U.S. Senate has not taken action. As the months continue to pass, more and more criminals will be let off the hook to continue to use false identities to intentionally target government programs and divert public funds away from vulnerable workers and families.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement calling on the Senate to act on the bipartisan, House-passed legislation as soon as possible:
“Every day the Senate delays action on extending the statute of limitations to prosecute this UI fraud is another day criminals are getting away with what is considered the greatest theft of tax dollars in U.S. history. The fraud perpetrated under the UI program is not yesterday’s news. Some estimates put the amount of dollars stolen as high as $400 billion. The Department of Justice has well over 1,000 cases currently open, and the Department of Labor’s Inspector General has already identified cases that it will be unable to prosecute because of the expiring statute while law enforcement agencies have been forced to abandon or forgo prosecution of criminals who stole billions in taxpayer funds. The House-passed Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act is a simple, sensible, and strongly bipartisan solution that will arm our law enforcement with the time they need to not only go after existing criminals but also signal to would-be future fraudsters that the U.S. government will not look the other way when the American taxpayer is being robbed.”
In response to a request by the Committee, the Department of Labor Inspector General’s Office identified a number of fraud investigations involving millions of tax dollars that have been or will be jeopardized in the coming months due to expiring statute of limitations if the Senate fails to act:
The National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Taskforce has identified several criminals who submitted fraudulent unemployment claims totaling over $3.1 million across multiple states and territories including California, Kansas, Maryland, Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Guam. The statute of limitations on this case begins to expire in September 2025.
An investigation, which identified approximately $1 million in UI fraud, involved the mailing of several dozen UI claims to the same address. The statute of limitations began to expire in May 2025.
An investigation, which identified approximately $1 million in UI fraud, involved the use of the names of two companies to submit around 100 UI claims. The statute of limitations began to expire in May 2025.
An investigation, which identified approximately $1 million in UI fraud, involved at least nine conspirators and multiple claims filed in multiple states. They were also linked to about $8 million in Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program fraud. The statute of limitations for UI fraud began to expire in May 2025.
An investigation, which identified approximately $700,000 in UI fraud, involved in a nation-wide scheme to obtain pandemic UI benefits from multiple states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Nevada, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Guam. The investigation found the suspects used identities of persons who were ineligible for these benefits, such as incarcerated individuals. The statute of limitations begins to expire in December 2025.
An investigation determined that 20 fraudsters, who were posing as assorted individuals during the ID verification process, submitted photographs and fake driver’s licenses in order to file UI claims. One individual claimed to be 177 different people to obtain pandemic UI funds from one state. The statute of limitations for several of these cases expired in March 2025.
An investigation, which identified approximately $300,000 in UI fraud, involved an address associated with the mailing of several dozen UI debit cards, as well as UI claims using the personally identifiable information of more than 30 individuals. The Attorney General is unsure if she will be able to indict prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
An investigation, which identified over $200,000 in UI fraud, revealed that a Social Security number was used to file more than 40 UI claims. The investigation also determined the alleged claimant had a previous criminal history. The statute of limitations begins to expire in October 2025.
Additional Background:
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office, found that even five years after the pandemic, law enforcement has been successful in prosecuting pandemic-relief program fraud cases.
At least 2,532 defendants have been found guilty of fraud-related charges involving pandemic-relief programs, as of December 31, 2024.
Criminals sentenced faced serious consequences, including prison time and restitution orders that resulted in large financial settlements.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), from March 2020 to December 31, 2024, it secured more than 650 civil settlements and judgments, totaling more than $500 million, to resolve allegations of fraud or overpayments in connection with the pandemic relief programs.
Notably, these prosecutions have increased year-over-year since the beginning of the pandemic, and DOJ has stated that trend is expected to increase for the foreseeable future – further justification for extending the statute of limitations to allow the government continued access to one of its primary antifraud and recovery tools.
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act (H.R. 1156)
Extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting COVID-era unemployment insurance (UI) fraud from five to 10 years.
Government estimates show as much as $100-$135 billion in UI benefits were lost to fraud during the pandemic. Only $5 billion has been recovered, or less than 4 percent.
The Department of Justice has 1,648 open, uncharged COVID-19 criminal matters and the Labor Department has reported 157,000 open UI fraud hotline complaints. Failure to extend the statute of limitations will result in criminals going unpunished and forgoing recovery of billions in taxpayer dollars.
In 2022, on a bipartisan basis, Congress similarly extended the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury and Disaster Loans to 10 years.
The bill is supported by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, a non-partisan association representing all 50 states administering the UI program.
Mark Zuckerberg Sees the Light of the Right and Ends Facebook Censorship
In a display of uncharacteristic candor, Mark Zuckerberg—Silicon Valley’s boy-wonder-turned-censorship-czar—has pivoted toward the very principles of free expression he once seemed all too willing to trample underfoot. Speaking to comedian and podcast impresario Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg revealed an unsavory chapter in the annals of the Facebook—now Meta—empire. “Essentially, officials from the Biden administration would call up our team, berate them with expletives, and demand the removal of content they deemed inconvenient,” Zuckerberg admitted. “At a certain point, we just said, ‘No, this is absurd. We’re not going to remove things that are true.’” Such a confession from Zuckerberg, whose social media leviathan has played arbiter of acceptable discourse for years, represents a volte-face that could well send tremors through the gilded halls of Silicon Valley. The White House, unsurprisingly, declined to comment on Zuckerberg’s incendiary revelations when approached by NBC News. In his exchange with Rogan, Zuckerberg conceded that Facebook had, at times, capitulated to governmental pressure—an act as disappointing as it is illuminating. “We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he reflected, as if awakening from a long slumber in a technocratic utopia of his own design. The White House, for its part, has defended its prior exhortations to tech companies, invoking the specter of a “deadly pandemic” to justify its interventions. “Our position has been clear: we believe tech companies and other private actors should consider the effects their actions have on the American people,” the administration said in a statement that, notably, sidesteps the essence of Zuckerberg’s critique. Zuckerberg’s commentary suggests a broader rethinking of Meta’s role in the epistemological marketplace. “I generally believe that, as a principle, people should decide what is credible, what they want to believe, and who they want to vote for,” he declared. “I don’t think that should be something tech companies—or any company—should determine.” To hear Zuckerberg espouse what amounts to an endorsement of intellectual self-determination is both a testament to the enduring power of American ideals and a reminder that even the most obdurate guardians of the algorithm are not beyond redemption. One can only hope this awakening marks a substantive shift rather than a convenient moment of rhetorical self-interest. For in a republic of free men and women, the prerogative to discern truth belongs to the citizenry—not to government apparatchiks, nor to their willing accomplices in Silicon Valley’s ivory towers.
Smith: President Trump’s Tax Plan Will Fix Weak Biden-Harris Jobs Market
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the final jobs report of the failed Biden-Harris Administration, showing a labor market reliant on bureaucrat hiring:
“The Biden-Harris labor market failed to deliver for American workers. The average paycheck today is worth 3 percent less than the first day of the Biden presidency. President Biden slowed recovery from the pandemic by paying people more to stay at home than go to work, raising taxes, and threatening more regulations. President Biden’s so-called ‘manufacturing boom’ was actually a government spending bonanza with a blue-collar recession that lost over 87,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year. Businesses, squeezed by high inflation and interest rates, cut hiring. But government jobs were on the rise.
“President Trump and Republicans have a mandate to quickly undo the damage done by the Biden-Harris Administration and restore our nation’s greatness and prosperity. Under unified Republican leadership, Congress must act swiftly on tax relief for families and small businesses reeling from four years of inflation, high interest rates, and uncertainty. Today, small businesses and manufacturers are making decisions about future hiring and expansion. They need the assurance they won’t pay a 43.4 percent tax rate, and they need incentives to support domestic manufacturing. President Trump has the right policies to grow paychecks, create jobs, and supercharge our economy. After four years of waiting, there is no time to waste. January 20th cannot come soon enough.” Key Background:
• Everything Costs More: Prices have increased 20.6 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Americans Making Less: Real wages and benefits have fallen 3 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Inflation Above Fed’s Target: For 45 straight months, inflation has been above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
• Inflation Higher Than Wages: Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months under the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Historic Interest Rates: Under the Biden-Harris Administration, interest rates hit their highest levels in 23 years. Mortgage Costs 81 Percent Higher: The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased by nearly $1,000 and is over 80 percent higher than when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in January 2021.
• $1 Trillion+ Credit Card Debt: Credit card interest rates are at their highest levels in more than three decades, while consumer credit debt has exceeded $1 trillion for six calendar quarters. The number of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased to levels not seen since the great financial crisis. More than 11 percent of credit card balances are more than 90 days past due.
• Shrinking Savings: Thanks to higher prices, families have spent the entirety of their pandemic savings by 2024, and they are able to save less of their income. The average personal savings rate since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office is 2.9 percent lower than the pre-Biden-Harris average and it remains comparatively low at 4.4 percent today.
• Families Falling Behind on Bills: Over one-third of families (37 percent) paid a late fee in the past year.
