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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) introduced new legislation Wednesday aimed at extending the time frame for prosecuting individuals who fraudulently obtained pandemic-era assistance funds.
The proposal comes in response to a startling Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which revealed that the Biden administration’s Small Business Administration Inspector General failed to properly investigate an estimated two to three million cases due to insufficient or inaccurate information in their referrals.
Ernst, who chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, collaborated with Williams to create the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act, designed to hold pandemic aid fraudsters accountable. The legislation seeks to extend the statute of limitations to a decade for fraud cases involving the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and Restaurant Revitalization Fund programs. This mirrors similar legislative action taken in 2022 that extended the statute of limitations for Paycheck Protection Program and COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans to ten years.
The House just passed the ‘Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act’ which extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting people who committed fraud with Covid relief funds.
It’s estimated there’s over $100 billion in fraudulent payments!
THE HAMMER OF JUSTICE IS COMING pic.twitter.com/3KRwtH7HFd
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 11, 2025
The fraud’s impact was particularly devastating as legitimate small businesses across Iowa, Texas, and other states were denied funding from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund while criminals misappropriated the resources. Business Insider investigations have uncovered instances of celebrities misusing SVOG funds for personal luxuries, including private jets, parties, expensive clothing, and bonus payments.
Ernst’s office has documented numerous cases of program abuse. The SBA’s “first come, first serve” approach quickly depleted available funds, leaving qualified businesses without support while criminals, including felons, gang members, and drug traffickers, successfully obtained funding. In some cases, fraudsters even managed to secure loan approval by submitting photos of Barbie dolls as identification.
The Biden SBA failed to pursue 2 MILLION individuals suspected of stealing COVID pandemic aid.
Chairman @RepRWilliams and Chair @SenJoniErnst are introducing legislation to extend the statute of limitations and ensure these criminals are held accountable.… pic.twitter.com/68GnKoPwnC
— House Committee on Small Business (@HouseSmallBiz) April 2, 2025
One particularly egregious case involved an alleged fraudster securing $8 million while approximately 2,000 struggling Iowa restaurants were denied assistance. Ernst highlighted these issues in her report “Small Business COVID-19 Fraud: Three Years Later State of Play,” which criticized the Biden administration’s SBA for downplaying the extent of fraud and questioning legitimate investigator estimates.
Adding to the concerning findings, DOGE recently uncovered that $312 million in COVID-19 aid was distributed to children under 11 years old, leading Ernst to describe these discoveries as merely the “tip of the iceberg.”
