Democratic Senators introduced the Fraud Protection and Recovery Act on Tuesday to deal with identity fraud and historic pandemic fraud. Senator Wyden pointed out the difference between Democrats and Republicans in addressing fraud, saying that Republicans often use fraud as an excuse to cut support for workers in the middle class, while Democrats focus on good government and protecting essential programs.
Senate Democrats introduced The Fraud Prevention and Recovery Act to combat systemic pandemic fraud and assist victims of identity theft. They emphasized that their proposal does not involve cutting resources for vulnerable individuals and giving them to wealthier fraudsters.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden noted the contrast between Senate Democrats' approach to fraud and that of most Republicans. He highlighted that Democrats aim to crack down on fraud, save taxpayer money, and enhance important programs for the betterment of efficient government.
Wyden challenged the notion that Democrats are indifferent to fraud, stating that they are committed to improving vital programs and ensuring federal programs work effectively, which provides more opportunities for Americans to succeed.
The Democratic Senator stressed that combating fraud is about promoting good government and not using it as an excuse to cut programs supporting the middle class, which is a tactic often used by Republicans. He emphasized that Democrats are fully supportive of the administration's efforts to address fraud.
The WH Pandemic Fraud Fact Sheet reveals that bad actors took advantage of the pandemic to exploit taxpayer-funded resources, impacting small business programs and unemployment benefits.
Bullet points of how this would work:
I. Prosecute & Recover: Ensure Oversight and Enforcement Bodies Have the Resources to Prosecute Major Pandemic Fraud & Recoup Taxpayer Dollars
– Allocates $300 million to triple the COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force teams
-Raises the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act cap to $1 million
-Allocates $250 million to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Department of Labor (DOL) Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs)
-Continues the Department of Labor (DOL) OIG’s access to expanded unemployment insurance (UI) datasets to identify instances of multi-state and coordinated fraud
-Wyden-Crapo proposal to increase the time limit for pandemic UI fraud to 10 years
II. Prevent & Safeguard: Investing in Fraud and Identity Theft Prevention Going Forward
-Provides $25 million and new authorities to expand Treasury’s Do Not Pay Service.
-Provides $75 million for privacy-preserving validation of key identity attributes
-Peters-Romney Extension of a Cutting-Edge Anti-Fraud Analytics Platform – the Pandemic Analytics Center for Excellence (PACE)
-Upcoming Death Master File Legislation
-Provides $275 million to prevent identity theft in public benefits
-Provides $25 million to pilot an identity theft early warning system
-Provides $200 million to enhance IdentityTheft.gov and create a one-stop remediation experience for victims
-Provides $175 million in grants for additional services for victims of identity theft
Wyden also noted that the identity protection aspects are “another step to reduce reliance on the sleazy private data brokers that don’t protect Americans privacy, they’re ripping people off.”
The way Wyden explained how Democrats approach cracking down on fraud is vital to understand, especially when discussing politics with people who don’t pay a lot of attention. Democrats are not using “fraud” as an excuse to cut important programs that help vulnerable people in what is an expression of this country’s democratic values. That doesn’t mean they’re excusing fraud or not trying to address it. Perhaps it’s best summed up as Democrats are not politicizing fraud to justify making cuts that voters don’t support.
It should go without saying that no legislation is perfect, and certainly no political party is even approaching perfection. People in politics tend to be power hungry and Machiavellian. But always pay attention to what they DO with their power. Are they helping the people or are they helping the wealthy and big business?
This legislation is another effort to help the people and small businesses.
.
