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
A Christian pastor in southern Mexico has been expelled from his village after refusing to participate in rituals linked to traditional religious practices, Christians told Worthy News on Thursday.
Far over budget but still less costly than some recent Games, Italy’s Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opened over the weekend, with athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus competing only under a “neutral” designation amid continuing fallout from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Several Christian families in Pakistan’s Punjab province were recovering from injuries Sunday after what they described as “targeted attacks” by suspected Islamic extremists, reflecting broader pressure on Christians and other minorities in the Muslim-majority nation.
Portuguese voters headed to the polls Sunday in a high-stakes presidential runoff despite deadly storms that have battered parts of the country, with left-leaning former Socialist leader António José Seguro projected to defeat nationalist challenger André Ventura, according to exit polls.
A Christian pastor detained in Nicaragua since July 2025 has been released from prison but placed under house arrest along with five other Christian believers, Worthy News established on Thursday.
An injured Christian pastor in eastern India says recalling Bible verses gave him strength to survive hours of brutal abuse by a Hindu mob that accused him of converting Hindus to Christianity.
U.S. forces carried out five sets of precision strikes against Islamic State targets across Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the U.S. military’s U.S. Central Command announced Wednesday.