Senators Young and Ernst introduce legislation to recover billions in COVID relief fraud

Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM

U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) recently introduced the Complete COVID Collections Act to ensure that billions of stolen taxpayer dollars can continue to be recovered.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) created COVID relief programs to help small businesses, but unfortunately, bad actors took advantage of many of these programs. The Complete COVID Collections Act would extend the authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery — a role designed to oversee pandemic funds — and expand its jurisdiction to cover additional SBA COVID-related programs. It is estimated that more than $200 billion still needs to be recovered.

“Programs designed to provide relief to our small businesses were repeatedly taken advantage of, leaving small businesses hurting and taxpayers on the hook. I’m glad to join Senator Ernst in this effort to recover taxpayer dollars and protect Americans from fraud and abuse,” said Senator Young.

“Con artists took advantage of small businesses’ pain during COVID to defraud government programs designed to help hardworking Americans,” said Senator Ernst. “While we are $36 trillion in debt, we especially cannot afford to leave more than $200 billion floating around, especially in the hands of fraudsters. My Republican colleagues and I are making sure that all resources are available in this fight to get taxpayers’ money back and hold these criminals accountable.”

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and John Curtis (R-Utah) also sponsored the legislation.

The full text of the legislation can be found here. More about the legislation can be found here.