Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said in a statement to Breitbart News that Congress needs to empower special inspectors revealing billions of dollars in coronavirus aid fraud.
Last week, the government's Department of Efficiency (DOGE) discovered that the Biden-era Small Business Administration (SBA) granted a $5,593 loan worth $312 million to borrowers, with only owners under the age of 11 being listed.
“It's possible to create business arrangements if this is legal, but these are all using SSNs with the wrong name, so it's rare for these 5,593 loans. @doge and @sbagov We are working together to resolve this issue this week,” Doge wrote.
Ernst, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee and Senate Dozi Chairman Ernst, believes there is much to be revealed.
“The hundreds of millions of Covid loans awarded to children under 11 with fake Social Security numbers, like crazy, are just the tip of the iceberg. My surveillance efforts revealed what a $5.4 billion Covid loan has done. For individuals using fraudulent Social Security numbers,” she said in a statement to Breitbart News.
SBA Heads Kelly Loeffler and Ernst have sought to uncover more than $200 billion in coronavirus aid fraud, revealed by the June 2023 SBA Inspector General (SBA OIG) report.
Ernst's office is available Catalog Just a few ways coronavirus aid has been abused:
While SBA runs relief programs on a “first come, first serve” basis, money is quickly gone, and many qualified businesses are felony, Gang membersand Drug Trafficker I raked them together with cash. Several scammers have been uploaded Barbie doll photos as photo identification About approved SBA loan applications.
The scammer is said to have returned home $8 million meanwhile Nearly 2,000 struggling restaurants in Iowa It was left empty-handed. Ernst detailed this in her report entitled Small and Medium Business COVID-19 Scam: Play status three years later – She outlined the Biden SBA's efforts to discount the entire scope of fraud and question legitimate presumptions by expert investigators.
The chairman of the Small Business Commission has long sought to pass the bill, a full covid collection law that extends the lifespan of Special Inspector General Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR), after warning in January that its powers have expired.
Special inspectors for pandemic recovery have no jurisdiction to proceed after fraud. Business Insider Article; The Ernst bill aims to fix this issue by giving SIGPR the authority to go after pandemic-era fraud.
By addressing jurisdiction, it would prevent people committing fraud from fleeing crime, compared to other bills simply extending the SIGPR.
Laws to find more waste, fraud and abuse I passed Of the Small Business Committee, it is supported by Senators (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Eric Schmidt (R-MO), and John Curtis (R-UT).
She said, “I'm excited to see Doge and administrator Loeffler tackling the issue, but unless they pass a bill to empower the top pandemic watchdog, SIGPR, these scammers will probably run away.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him with x @seanmoran3.
