Prohibiting Individuals Convicted of Defrauding the Government From Receiving Any Assistance From the Small Business Administration

Floor Speech

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. I rise in support of H.R. 5427, which puts into statute current rules which prohibit anyone convicted of defrauding the government from receiving an SBA loan.

Over the course of the pandemic, the SBA disbursed approximately $1.2 trillion in economic aid. The vast majority of this aid was a lifeline to keep small businesses afloat during troubling and uncertain economic times. Unfortunately, bad actors took advantage of the program early in the pandemic when SBA removed or weakened internal controls. To that end, the Biden administration reinstituted longstanding antifraud controls and put new safeguards into place to curb the flow of pandemic dollars to fraudsters, and they remain in place today.

Before issuing a loan, SBA screens applicants on the government's Do Not Pay list and then checks its internal database for any fraudulent flags or holds. While borrowers have an opportunity to clear their names, the SBA will not move forward until the holds are cleared.

The bill we are considering today is closely aligned with the actions taken by the Biden administration, and it will send a strong message that SBA will not do business with anyone who defrauded the government. With that said, the single most important action Congress can take to recover fraudulent pandemic funds is to fully fund the SBA Inspector General and give the office the resources it needs to go after bad actors. In the last Congress, Representative Luetkemeyer and I sponsored two laws to extend the statute of limitations for fraud in the PPP and EIDL program to 10 years. Without additional resources, the OIG will not be able to capitalize on these new laws.

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, this bill prohibits anyone convicted of defrauding the government with respect to the SBA's pandemic programs from receiving loan disaster financial assistance from the SBA.

While there may be disagreement on the actual estimates of fraud in the pandemic programs, it is clear we need to work together to protect their integrity.

Administrator Guzman has taken steps to put strong controls into place that would prohibit anyone convicted of fraud from receiving financial assistance, and this bill will ensure those controls remain in place with future administrations.

I thank Chairman Williams, Mr. Mfume, and Mr. Bean for their efforts, and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5427, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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