House Oversight Committee to Begin Probe of COVID Fraud

Facts

• The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will hold its first hearings in the new Republican-majority Congress, targeting fraud and waste related to pandemic spending.
• Since March 2020, Congress has approved approximately $4.6T in spending from six COVID relief laws signed during the administrations of both former Pres. Trump and Pres. Biden.
• Since March 2020, more than 1K people have pled guilty or been convicted of COVID-relief fraud, and more than 600 have been charged, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). It’s estimated that at least $80B of the $800B in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were fraudulent.
• In a report released this week, the GAO revealed that the US Dept. of Labor spent $45B on unemployment claims that were fraudulent during the pandemic and that the department hasn’t made reforms to prevent future fraud.
• Meanwhile, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, in a separate report, found $5.4B in fraudulent payouts from the Small Business Administration’s COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and PPP from April 2020-Oct. 2022.
• Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, said the hearing was meant to see “if there's a way to claw back any of this money — if there's a way to hold people accountable for wrongdoing, and what steps these different government agencies have done to prevent this in the future.'

Sources: Independent, Independent, NBC, Fox news, Reuters and Fox news.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. Congress owes it to every taxpaying American to investigate where their money really went when it was supposed to be going toward COVID relief. Democrats didn’t hold one investigation into fraudulent activity, but fortunately, the Republicans are back in charge and will conduct vital oversight — including in the Democrats' potential complicity.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Politico. The American people want Congress to legislate, not investigate. After all, there are already government agencies investigating and prosecuting COVID funds fraud. Considering their track record, it’s difficult to see how the Republicans are going to conduct this investigation honestly, especially since they’re making this a partisan issue despite much of this fraud happening on Trump's watch.