Dear Constituent,

This week, the United States House of Representatives unanimously passed two bipartisan bills I co-led, addressing the ongoing issue of fraud in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Relief Program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). These bills were introduced alongside Congressman Roger Williams (R-TX-25), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, and Congressman Aaron Bean (R-FL-04). 

These measures require the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration to submit a quarterly report on any fraud found in the small business pandemic relief programs, and prohibits anyone convicted of crimes relating to financial misconduct or making a false statement with respect to a small business pandemic relief program from receiving non-disaster financial assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) in the future.

Click here or on the image above to view Congressman Mfume's remarks on H.R. 5427.

The fraud in these programs are the repercussions of a 2020 decision by the Trump administration to loosen anti-fraud protections during the pandemic, amounting to billions of dollars in potential fraud. That is why I am proud to be the Democratic co-lead of these two bills. The intent is to ensure the individuals who deliberately stole federal funds are not given a similar opportunity in the future, and ensure consistent reporting on the progress made towards returning stolen funds to the federal government and bringing white-collar criminals to justice. 

To learn more about H.R. 5427 or the PPP/EIDL Fraud Report Act of 2023, please click here.

Sincerely,

Kweisi Mfume
Member of Congress