By Thérèse Boudreaux | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – Legislation that would give the U.S. Department of Justice more time to track down and punish pandemic-era unemployment insurance (UI) fraud is on its way to the U.S. House floor.
The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., provides a five-year extension on the statute of limitations for criminally prosecuting those who committed CARES Act related UI fraud.
According to the DOJ, there are still 157,000 open UI fraud complaints and 1,648 open investigations. If no congressional action is taken, the current statute will expire on March 27, leaving thousands of Americans unreimbursed for stolen benefits and potentially hundreds of fraudsters would be let off the hook.
“Given the volume of existing cases currently under investigation, there is no reason that Congress should not act to ensure law enforcement stays on this beat and goes after these criminals,” Smith told lawmakers. “If we don’t extend the statute of limitations, every one of these investigations will end and those that perpetrated the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history will not be brought to justice.”
While the Government Accountability Office estimates that upwards of $100 billion in unemployment benefits were lost to fraud during the pandemic, only $5 billion have been recovered.
“Fraudsters ran rampant during COVID, taking advantage of states like California that had weak fraud protections in their unemployment insurance systems,” U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said. “We can’t let them off the hook by letting the statute of limitations expire.”
Currently, more than 2,000 individuals have been charged with, and over 1,400 convicted of, unemployment insurance fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The bill has 25 cosponsors, all Republican, and is part of the GOP’s efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse connected to the federal government.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
President Donald Trump scored another major victory in his effort to reshape the Republican Party Tuesday night as Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie lost his primary to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein in the state’s 4th Congressional District.
Franklin Graham, the U.S. evangelist who leads the Christian humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, has expressed concern about the plight of an American Christian doctor working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after he tested positive for the potentially deadly Ebola virus amid a growing outbreak there.
James Robison, the Texas-based televangelist who founded LIFE Outreach International, has died at the age of 82, ministry officials said. The cause of death was not immediately announced.
Several Christian groups held rallies in support of refugees in the Dutch town of Loosdrecht after protesters set off fireworks at a temporary asylum center there, frightening people inside the building.
Peter Magyar began a two-day visit to Poland on Tuesday, his first trip abroad since taking office, leaving behind a nation in political turmoil after his threat to oust the Hungarian president while reaching out to Brussels and Kyiv.
The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California early Wednesday, saying the long-planned test was designed to verify the readiness of America’s land-based nuclear deterrent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing late Tuesday for high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Moscow and Beijing prepare to advance a joint statement promoting what they call a “multipolar” world order.