[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2742 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2742
To establish the COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 14, 2021
Mr. Thune (for himself and Mr. Crapo) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Recovering Fraudulent Claims Act''.
SEC. 2. COVID-19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD TASK FORCE.
(a) In General.--
(1) Establishment.--Not later than 60 days after the date
of enactment of this section, the Attorney General, in
consultation with the Secretary, shall establish the COVID-19
Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force (in this section
referred to as the ``Task Force'').
(2) Duties.--
(A) Investigation.--The Task Force shall
investigate fraud with respect to COVID-19 unemployment
insurance benefits, including an identification of and
investigation into--
(i) subject to paragraph (3), any alleged
instance of fraudulent payment of COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits to any
individual, entity, or organization (either
foreign or domestic) that was not eligible to
receive such benefits; and
(ii) any alleged instance in which an
individual, entity, or organization (either
foreign or domestic) stole or attempted to
steal the identity or personally identifiable
information of any United States citizen in an
effort to obtain COVID-19 unemployment
insurance benefits, including any instance of
synthetic identity theft.
(B) Submission of findings to attorney general.--
The Task Force shall submit to the Attorney General the
Task Force's findings with respect to the investigation
conducted under subparagraph (A) to assist the Attorney
General in the prosecution of fraud concerning COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits.
(3) Clarification.--The investigation conducted under
paragraph (2)(A) shall not include an identification of or
investigation into any improper payment of COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits to any individual that was
eligible to receive such benefits.
(b) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The Attorney General, in consultation with
the Secretary, shall appoint to the Task Force a representative
from each of the following:
(A) The Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Labor.
(B) The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(C) The Department of Homeland Security.
(D) The Internal Revenue Service.
(E) The United States Postal Service.
(F) The Office of the Inspector General of the
Social Security Administration.
(G) The Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Homeland Security.
(H) A nonprofit organization representing State
workforce agencies.
(I) A national law enforcement organization.
(J) Any other organization the Attorney General, in
consultation with the Secretary, determines to be
appropriate.
(2) Prohibition on compensation.--The members of the Task
Force shall not receive any compensation from the Federal
Government by reason of their service on the Task Force.
(c) Report to Congress.--
(1) Preliminary report.--Subject to paragraph (3), not
later than 1 year after the date on which the Task Force is
established under subsection (a)(1), the Task Force shall
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that
contains a detailed description of the following:
(A) The Task Force's findings with respect to the
investigation conducted under subsection (a)(2)(A),
including the following:
(i) The total number of individuals and an
itemized list of entities and organizations
(either foreign or domestic) that were
identified by the Task Force as having
allegedly obtained or attempted to obtain
fraudulent payments of COVID-19 unemployment
insurance benefits, including the amount of
such benefits that were identified by the Task
Force as having been obtained.
(ii) The total number of individuals and an
itemized list of entities and organizations
(either foreign or domestic) that were
identified by the Task Force as having
allegedly stolen or attempted to steal the
identity or personally identifiable information
of any United States citizen in an effort to
obtain COVID-19 unemployment insurance
benefits, including any instance of synthetic
identity theft.
(iii) The total number of individuals and
an itemized list of entities and organizations
(either foreign or domestic) that were
identified by the Attorney General during the
period beginning on the date of enactment of
the CARES Act (Public Law 116-136) and ending
on the date of the establishment of the Task
Force under subsection (a)(1) as having
allegedly obtained or attempted to obtain
fraudulent payments of COVID-19 unemployment
insurance benefits.
(iv) The total number of individuals and an
itemized list of entities and organizations
(either foreign or domestic) that were
identified by the Attorney General during the
period beginning on the date of enactment of
the CARES Act (Public Law 116-136) and ending
on the date of the establishment of the Task
Force under subsection (a)(1) as having
allegedly stolen or attempted to steal the
identity or personally identifiable information
of any United States citizen in an effort to
obtain COVID-19 unemployment insurance
benefits, including any instance of synthetic
identity theft.
(v) The total number of individuals the
Attorney General has prosecuted for fraud
concerning COVID-19 unemployment insurance
benefits, including a list of the criminal
charges brought and any prison sentences or
accompanying fines imposed.
(B) The steps the Attorney General or the head of
any other relevant Federal or State agency is taking,
or is planning to take, to prosecute or otherwise
penalize the individuals, entities, or organizations
described in subparagraph (A).
(C) Any challenge or impediment the Attorney
General or the head of any other relevant Federal or
State agency has encountered in prosecuting or
otherwise penalizing such individuals, entities, or
organizations.
(D) The efforts the Attorney General or the head of
any other relevant Federal or State agency is taking,
or is planning to take, to recover any fraudulent
payment of COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits,
and the challenges associated with such efforts.
(E) The total amount of fraudulent COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits that were issued by
States, including a State-by-State breakdown of such
amount.
(F) The total amount of fraudulent COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits that the Attorney
General or the head of any other relevant Federal or
State agency has been able to recover.
(G) The specific challenges the Task Force
encountered in carrying out subsection (a)(2)(A).
(2) Final report.--Subject to paragraph (3), not later than
1 year after the submission of the report under paragraph (1),
the Task Force shall submit to the appropriate Committees of
Congress a final report that includes updated information
regarding subparagraphs (A) through (G) of paragraph (1).
(3) Disclosure of return information.--No return
information (as defined in section 6103(b) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986) may be included in a report submitted
under paragraph (1) or (2), except as authorized by such
section 6103.
(d) Sunset.--The Task Force shall terminate on the later of--
(1) the date on which the Task Force submits the final
report under subsection (c)(2); or
(2) a specific date selected by the Attorney General, in
consultation with the Secretary, that falls after the date set
forth in paragraph (1).
(e) Definitions.--
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
(D) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives;
(E) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives; and
(F) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House
of Representatives.
(2) COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits.--The term
``COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits'' means unemployment
insurance benefits provided under any of the programs under
section 2102, 2104, or 2107 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9021,
9023, 9025).
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Labor.
(4) Synthetic identity theft.--The term ``synthetic
identity theft'' means the use of a combination of personally
identifiable information to fabricate an individual or entity
in order to commit a dishonest act for personal or financial
gain.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT.
(a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States (in this
section referred to as the ``Comptroller General'') shall conduct a
study on unemployment insurance fraud with respect to COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits (as defined in section 2(e)). Such
study shall include an analysis of--
(1) how the amounts appropriated under section 2118 of the
CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9034), as added by section 9032 of the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2), are being
utilized by States to--
(A) detect and prevent fraud in any such program;
and
(B) recover any fraudulent payment of COVID-19
unemployment insurance benefits;
(2) any reason that such appropriated amounts were not used
by States to detect and prevent such fraud and to recover such
fraudulent payments;
(3) whether such appropriated amounts were successful in
helping States to detect and prevent such fraud and to recover
such fraudulent payments; and
(4) any other area determined appropriate by the
Comptroller General.
(b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this section, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report
containing the results of the study conducted under subsection (a),
together with recommendations for such legislation and administrative
action as the Comptroller General determines appropriate.
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