Senator is coming for the ‘con artists’ and fraudsters who stole over a BILLION of pandemic relief

With the end of SIGPR, Miller worries that no one will be held accountable.

“Without SIGPR to protect the taxpayer, there will be no one on watch which will allow this crisis to continue,” Miller wrote.

“Of equal concern is an alarming rate of defaults by borrowers who are failing to pay even the interest payments on the loans for the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) and the Direct Loan Program.”

As a ranking member of the Republican Small Business Committee and DOGE member, Ernst says she is ready to clean house and bring transparency to taxpayers.

In Iowa and across the country, small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and, as they grow, our nation grows.

As @SmallBizCmteGOP Chair, I will be working to reduce regulations, increase transparency, and reform the broken SBA to serve Main Street.

Let’s get to work!

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) January 6, 2025

Ernst believes her proposed bill cited as the “Complete COVID Collections Act” would do just that, in part, by extending the SIGPR program through 2030 while expanding its jurisdiction. The Iowa Republican also worries that deceitful loan applicants could get away with $200 billion of fraudulent funds meant for COVID relief if her bill doesn’t pass, Fox reported.

“While we are $36 trillion in debt, we especially cannot afford to leave more than $200 billion floating around, especially in the hands of fraudsters. My Republican colleagues and I are making sure that all resources are available in this fight to get taxpayers’ money back and hold these criminals accountable.”

“Con artists took advantage of small businesses’ pain during COVID to defraud government programs designed to help hardworking Americans,” Ernst said, according to Fox.

During the COVID lockdowns, PPP funds were being doled out on a first come first serve basis, according to Fox News. Since then, critics have claimed that bad actors including gang members and drug traffickers were quick to get in line, and took advantage of the program.

Some of the alleged abuses were so egregious that one fraudster used a Barbie doll as their identifier on a loan application, while another crook raked in as much as $8 million of taxpayer funds while small businesses struggled and shuttered, according to Fox.

Earnst’s bill quickly gained co-sponsorship by Republicans Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, James Lankford of Oklahoma, John Curtis of Utah and Toddy Young of Indiana.