This week the Supreme Court heard arguments on Biden v. Nebraska and U.S. Department of Education v. Brown, two challenges to the Biden administration’s student debt cancellation proposal.The administration’s debt cancellation scam is just one example of a pattern of irresponsible economic policies that have resulted in ongoing inflation, exacerbated workforce woes, and increased financial hardship hitting American households. In our Commitment to America agenda, House Republicans made a promise to deliver a government that is accountable to taxpayers.To do this, we must conduct stringent oversight, stop reckless policymaking, and move forward proposals that will get our country back on track.
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 1163,The Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act. This legislation would empower states to expand their pursuit to recover billions of dollars in fraudulent COVID unemployment insurance payments. Congressional Democrats blocked efforts by Republican lawmakers to include responsible reforms and effective incentives in programs intended to provide relief to workers disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts say as much as $400 billion in improper unemployment insurance payments were stolen by fraudsters during the pandemic.To date, just over $5 billion has been recovered.
It is always better to prevent fraud than to have to try to recover it, therefore we must improve fraud prevention strategies by examining the aspects of relief programs that worked, while preventing future situations in which benefits are provided on a pay-now-ask-questions-later basis.
