Sioux City Times

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act. The legislation aims to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting COVID-era unemployment insurance fraud from five years to ten years. This change comes as the current statute is set to expire on March 27, 2025.

U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) supported the bill. "Criminals who actively defrauded the American taxpayer and stole unemployment benefits from those in need during the COVID pandemic must be held accountable for their actions," said Rep. Feenstra. He emphasized that these individuals took more than $100 billion without remorse, describing it as "shameful and unacceptable."

Rep. Feenstra further stated, "I voted for the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act so that we can extend the statute of limitations – which is set to expire on March 27th of this year – by five years to punish these lawbreakers and recover as much of the stolen money as possible." He expressed his commitment to ensuring that those who defrauded the government face prosecution.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has estimated losses between $100 billion and $135 billion in unemployment insurance benefits due to fraud during the pandemic, with only about $5 billion recovered so far, representing less than four percent.