PPP loan concept (istock)
However, the Senate has yet to take up a companion bill needed to cement the extension, leading House lawmakers to call on their colleagues on Capitol Hill to make it a priority.
"We can’t afford to let these fraudsters get away with the largest heist of tax dollars in American history," Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, said Wednesday. "Not only do we have an obligation to taxpayers to recover as much of this money as possible — up to $135 billion — we also need to send a message that we will never falter in going after criminals who take advantage of our support for those in need. … There is no time to waste."
According to estimates from the Government Accountability Office, as much as $135 billion in pandemic unemployment insurance programs was lost to fraud during the pandemic. So far, only $5 billion, or less than 4%, has been recovered.
House lawmakers are calling on their Senate colleagues to follow their lead and pass a bill extending the statute of limitations for prosecuting pandemic-era unemployment fraud, which has resulted in hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars being lost to criminal activities. (Reuters/Fox News Digital)
This month, GOP lawmakers, including Smith, called on their Senate colleagues to take up the House's legislation to extend the statute of limitations related to pandemic unemployment fraud.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
When asked why he thought the Senate had not yet taken up a bill to extend the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment fraud, Moylan posited that it was "an attention span thing."
"This hasn't been top of mind the way that nominations have been in the first part of the year for the Senate, or budget resolution, or now tax conversations, or, you know, whatever the scandal of the day may be," Moylan said.
"Those are the things that seem to dominate proceedings in the Senate. We now are in a situation where, if they don't act soon, we're going to lose the ability to prosecute more fraud in this program."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/statute-limitations-pandemic-unemployment-fraud-expires-bipartisan-coalition-seeks-extension