A lesson learned on government accountability

As a member of both the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Small Business Committee, I have worked with my colleagues over the last two years to provide rigorous oversight and, at times, to investigate, the $1.5 trillion in Small Business Administration (SBA) loan and grant programs and the more than $650 billion in Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits issued since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That oversight has exposed a gaping hole in how the federal government manages the distribution of funds. A recent report by the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that, between March and September 2020, more than $30 billion in COVID-19 unemployment assistance was paid improperly, with almost $10 billion going directly into the pocket of fraudsters. Similarly, in an October 2021 report, the SBA OIG identifies more than $78 billion in potentially fraudulent loans through SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and $4.6 billion in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. 

Add those up and taxpayers are now on the hook for more than $100 billion in fraudulent payments. To put this number into perspective, Congress could have used this money to fund the Department of Education and Department of Labor’s entire budget for Fiscal Year 2022 ($13 billion and $78 billion, respectively).   

Coming from the Wisconsin state legislature, where we have a balanced budget, it is shocking to witness the fiscal irresponsibility in Washington. I was particularly appalled when, not more than two months after arriving in D.C., the House was already considering another $1.9 trillion in new spending in the American Rescue Plan Act. Economists have argued that this spending likely added at least three percentage points to inflation in 2021.”

This was one of the first, but certainly not the only times, that fiscal irresponsibility was on display during the Biden administration and is particularly important as the president continues to combat inflation with more government spending. I believe it’s important to emphasize that, should Democrats continue to have control over the financial levers of the federal government, this pervasive mishandling of funds is almost certain to continue. 

Of the $74 billion in fraudulent EIDL loans, the U.S. Secret Service has recovered only $2.3 billion to repay taxpayers. Recovery efforts of unemployment funds has fared slightly better, with roughly $4 billion in fraudulent UI payments returned since the start of the pandemic. It is likely the federal government will never see the vast majority of those funds again. 

But Democrats seem to be unconcerned about that. They are comfortable allowing billions in taxpayer dollars to go to out the door without proper accountability. They would rather hire 87,000 new IRS agents to investigate law-abiding citizens and small businesses than spend those resources investigating and recovering fraudulent COVID-19 payments. And instead of actually conducting oversight over the Biden administration and their handling of these programs, as is the job of the majority party in Congress, Democrats continue to allow officials, like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to shirk their legal obligation to testify. 

Republicans, meanwhile, do have a plan to prevent future instances of government waste. As part of our Commitment to America, we will hire more police officers to investigate bad actors, curb wasteful government spending, and hold the Biden administration accountable for their poor oversight of the pandemic programs. With inflation and national debt at record-highs, it’s past time that Washington starts to care about the money going out the door.

Scott Fitzgerald represents Wisconsin’s 5th District and is a member of the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Small Business Committee.