Covid-19 Eidl Fraud Statute of Limitations Act of 2022
Floor Speech
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7334) to extend the statute of limitations for fraud by borrowers under certain COVID-19 economic injury disaster loan programs of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7334
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 ``COVID-19 EIDL Fraud Statute of Limitations Act of 2022''. SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CERTAIN COVID-19 ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOAN PROGRAMS.
(a) Certain Economic Injury Disaster Loans.--Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (15) the following new paragraph:
``(16) Statute of limitations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any criminal charge or civil enforcement action alleging that a borrower engaged in fraud with respect to a loan made under this subsection in response to COVID-19 during the covered period (as defined in section 1110(a) of the CARES Act) shall be filed not later than 10 years after the offense was committed.''.
(b) EIDL Advances.--Section 1110(e) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9009(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(9) Statute of limitations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any criminal charge or civil enforcement action alleging that a borrower engaged in fraud with respect to the use of an advance received under this subsection shall be filed not later than 10 years after the offense was committed.''.
(c) Targeted EIDL Advances.--Section 331 of the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act (15 U.S.C. 9009b) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(i) Statute of Limitations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any criminal charge or civil enforcement action alleging that a borrower engaged in fraud with respect to the use of any amount received pursuant to this section shall be filed not later than 10 years after the offense was committed.''.
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7334, the COVID-19 EIDL Fraud Statute of Limitations Act of 2022, introduced by the ranking member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, and cosponsored by myself.
As with the PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act, this bill will extend the statute of limitations for COVID-19 EIDL fraud cases to 10 years to allow prosecutors more time to do their jobs. The bills are companion pieces of legislation and much-needed to help law enforcement investigate and bring fraud charges.
Congress amended the SBA disaster loan program at the start of the pandemic to allow small businesses facing economic injury due to COVID to apply for SBA disaster loans which were originally designed for natural disasters. At the same time, SBA lowered the guardrails and disbursed funds quickly to provide stability to the small business economy, which, as we all know, was facing unprecedented uncertainty in 2020.
In a very short time, the program went from one that responds to natural disasters in a few, distinct geographic areas, depending on the nature of the disaster, to one that was responding to a nationwide crisis almost overnight. Overall, the COVID EIDL program approved almost 4 million loans totaling over $378 billion.
The SBA administrator transitioned the program to the Office of Capital Access to dedicate additional management capacity. Since that transition, the office closed out a backlog of nearly 1 million applicants and increased loan officer productivity while improving the customer service experience and solidifying robust fraud controls. Nevertheless, throughout the pandemic, our committee held numerous oversight hearings with SBA's inspector general who testified that there is a great deal of potential fraud in this program, and it would be a decades-long effort to fully investigate.
The IG's office identified $78 billion in potentially fraudulent activity in the EIDL program as well as over $6 billion in loans and grants related to identity theft allegations. Given the degree of potential fraud, we need to give prosecutors more time to bring fraudsters to justice. This bill will give law enforcement the time needed to conduct their investigations of COVID EIDL fraud.
That is why I cosponsored this bill which will go a long way towards enhancing oversight and accountability.
Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, for introducing this important measure, and to the members of the Small Business Committee for unanimously approving this important piece of legislation.
I urge all Members to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, our Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies are diligently investigating and prosecuting pandemic loan fraud, and we must continue to support those efforts, whether in the COVID EIDL program or the Paycheck Protection Program.
We all agree that anyone who took advantage of this once-in-a- lifetime crisis to commit fraud and enrich themselves at the expense of hardworking Main Street businesses must be held accountable.
It is unacceptable to allow anyone to get off the hook for defrauding a government relief program simply because the statute of limitations expired. We cannot let this happen, and we must pass this bill.
Once again, I thank our Ranking Member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, for introducing this important measure, and I am pleased to support it.
I also thank all the members of the Small Business Committee for their bipartisan work on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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