PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD ENFORCEMENT ACT

On 2025-03-11, Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11) delivered a floor speech titled "PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD ENFORCEMENT ACT" in the House. The speech addressed gun policy and also covered the economy, taxes. It referenced legislation including HR1156, HRES211.

PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD ENFORCEMENT ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)] [House] [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 Depa

Referenced legislation: HRES211, HRES211, HR1156