Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act

Floor Speech

Democrats strongly agree that those who took advantage of the COVID crisis to commit fraud must be held accountable. Indeed, Democrats put $2 billion in the American Rescue Plan Act to fight fraud, and every House Republican voted against these investments to prevent fraud and hold criminals accountable.

These Democratic anti-fraud dollars helped the Department of Labor create an important cross-checking system to catch fraudsters who apply for unemployment in one State while receiving income in another, a practice for which a Republican House Member reportedly was indicted earlier this week.

Republicans are playing a dangerous game by cutting ongoing successful work by the Federal Government to fight fraud and leaving States to pick up the pieces.

The Department of Labor expressed deep concern about how H.R. 1163 will ``throttle essential, ongoing efforts to strengthen and protect the UI program.''

Instead of punishing organized crime, the Republican H.R. 1163 guts Federal funding to fight fraud, weakens State unemployment systems, privatizes American public service jobs, and sends cruel surprise bills to innocent workers who were unemployed during the pandemic.

We enacted bipartisan pandemic unemployment benefits that kept an estimated 5 million people a year from falling into poverty.

This assistance meant revenue and customers for businesses and helps spur our economic recovery. Unfortunately, when disaster struck, State unemployment systems were not prepared. Mistakes were made and thousands of workers were overpaid.

Again, we worked in bipartisan fashion to encourage States to waive overpayments to protect unemployed workers. Now, Republicans want to force States to claw back accidental overpayments from workers up to 10 years later.

When my GOP colleagues incorrectly assert that the bill limits the claw back of overpayments to fraud, they are only referring to a very narrow limit on the ability of States to keep portions of recovered fraud payments.

My Democratic colleagues and I offered many amendments to invest in antifraud efforts, protect workers, and strengthen State unemployment systems. The Republicans rejected every amendment.

Instead, the GOP careens ahead with H.R. 1163 that the CBO estimates is a net cut in Federal investment in fighting unemployment fraud and strengthening unemployment systems.

That is why so many organizations oppose H.R. 1163, including the AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; the Communications Workers of America; the National Employment Law Project; and the Service Employees International Union.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Jackson Lee).

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me say that I believe in border security at the southern border. I also believe in the fact that we are a land of immigrants, as well as a land of laws.

Here we have two bad bills that don't fix the immigration and border security problem, and in this bill, we are not fixing any problem with fraud.

Let me explain to my colleagues and also the American people: This takes away $400 million that we use to eliminate fraud. How does that work, in H.R. 1163? This bill is to claw back funds that people allegedly received accidentally.

This is what will happen. Let me tell you what they are going to do. They are going to make sure that law enforcement and first responders, who were out in public during the pandemic every day, will receive a bill because they accidentally received an overpay.

I had an amendment to exempt law enforcement which was rejected. They wouldn't take that amendment. We are, in fact, coming upon National Police Week next week when we honor and memorialize law enforcement.

They wouldn't take the amendment to exempt firefighters. I saw them out in the community when I was out in my district, testing, administering vaccinations, tending to people in crisis during the pandemic. They were out in our communities.

Additionally, they wouldn't take an exemption of schoolteachers. This is a bad bill. Why are you punishing our law enforcement, first responders, fire fighters, teachers, and others?

Let us take this bill off the table and go back to the drawing board. We are losing. We are not gaining.

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to reassert my opposition to the proposed legislation H.R. 1163--Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act, and to again assert the need for strong reconsideration for the harm and damage this bill will do to the American people.

H.R. 1163, the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act, quite simply a harmful bill that would strip state Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs of essential resources to fight fraud, combat identity theft, and recover overpayments, and would set back the goals of strengthening program integrity and combating systemic fraud.

H.R. 1163 would undermine the integrity of the UI system and allow states to send surprise bills to workers for overpayments of unemployment benefits paid during the pandemic as long as 10 years after the overpayment occurred.

This bill takes no consideration into the fact that the overpayments were made to workers who did nothing wrong, did not know they were overpaid, spent the money on necessities, and returned to work as soon as they could. Workers did not know they were overpaid at the time (and will not know until they receive a surprise bill).

This ``anti-fraud'' legislation would do more harm than good, penalizing America's essential workers who did nothing wrong while slashing funding from programs holding criminals accountable.

It makes no sense that we would not do everything we can to protect special populations of workers and continue to support them as essential workers--as those who hold the fabric of our communities together, especially in our most desperate and fragile times of need.

In fact, I along with my colleagues have attempted to address many of the ills this bill purports by offering common sense amendments that Republicans have continued to refuse any meaningful consideration.

My first amendment for H.R. 1163, listed on the Rules Committee roster as Amendment No. 41, would have required states to waive overpayments of pandemic unemployment benefits that were made to law enforcement personnel and security in 2020 or 2021 who were without fault in the UI overpayments.

My second amendment for H.R. 1163, listed on the Rules Committee roster as Amendment No. 42, would have required states to waive overpayments of pandemic unemployment benefits that were made to firefighters and emergency personnel in 2020 or 2021 who were without fault in the UI overpayments.

And my third amendment for H.R. 1163, listed on the Rules Committee roster as Amendment No. 43, would have delayed enactment until the Secretary certifies that no provision would result in school personnel--including teachers and support staff--in 2020 or 2021 without fault in the UI overpayment would be forced to repay overpayments due to state error.

These are common-sense amendments that have been repeatedly disregarded by my colleagues across the aisle who have instead chosen to put forward legislative attacks on our most vulnerable populations.

It is time we stop the negativity and counterproductive efforts that are ripping apart our country, and to instead focus on coining together to work towards sensible and effective solutions that can work for the betterment and growth of our country.

This bill is largely opposed by Americans who see right through the misguided language purporting to go after fraud but really goes after hardworking American citizens.

In my home state of Texas and across the country labor unions have reached out to urge a no vote on this bill and I stand with them in strong opposition to this wayward measure.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Kamlager-Dove).

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Chu).

Mr. Speaker, Democrats strongly agree that those who took advantage of the COVID crisis to commit fraud must be held accountable. That is why Democrats put $2 billion in the American Rescue Plan Act to fight fraud. Every House Republican voted against it.

According to the Department of Labor's trust fund, only 16 States met the required solvency standard for unemployment systems. Instead of punishing organized crime and instead of addressing the fragility of State unemployment systems, the Republican H.R. 1163 guts Federal funding to fight fraud, weakens State unemployment systems, privatizes American public service jobs, and claws back overpayments for workers who were unemployed during the pandemic and received overpayments through no fault of their own.

Mr. Speaker, I am shocked that the Republican leadership is advancing this bill that guts Federal investment in stopping unemployment fraud the same week when one of its own is indicted for such crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill that punishes America's families while stunting accountability for actual crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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