Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. YAKYM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1163, the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act.

The Department of Labor's inspector general pegs pandemic-era unemployment insurance fraud at $191 billion, though other experts say it could run as high as $400 billion. These are staggering figures.

This fraud enriched criminals. It harmed innocent Americans who faced processing delays, stolen benefits, and stolen identities. These were not victimless crimes.

H.R. 1163 takes a couple of important and commonsense steps toward addressing this fraud.

First, it extends the statute of limitations so that we can continue to investigate reports, recover taxpayer dollars, and prosecute the fraudsters.

More importantly, it incentivizes States not just to recover fraudulent payments but to shore up their systems against future fraud by allowing them to use a portion of recovered funds for program integrity and fraud prevention efforts.

The unemployment insurance program is an important part of our safety net that helps Americans recover from a job loss. The pandemic exposed major flaws that are in desperate need of attention.

I support the bill before us today because we shouldn't just catch the fraud that was. We need to stop the fraud that will be. H.R. 1163 takes steps to ensure that we in Congress and Americans across the country have faith in this program to deliver during difficult times.

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