[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4217-S4218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Protecting American Taxpayers Act

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, we have all received that email from a 
wealthy Nigerian ``Prince,'' asking us to wire him some money with 
promises that he will return the favor with a huge reward as soon as he 
can access his fortune, or we have gotten that phone call from an 
unknown number claiming to be the IRS, warning that an arrest warrant 
will be issued if we don't immediately pay off our outstanding tax 
debt, and, of course, everyone has been told that our extended vehicle 
warranty is about to expire unless we renew immediately.
  Folks, we all know these are scams, and we aren't being fooled. Yet, 
somehow, government bureaucrats are being bamboozled by even less 
sophisticated schemes, except they are not giving out access to their 
own bank accounts but, rather, to taxpayer dollars and the U.S. 
Treasury.
  Folks, I am not making this up. A Nigerian socialite actually 
submitted more than 100 fraudulent applications for unemployment and 
disability assistance that were approved. He finagled more than $1.3 
million of U.S. taxpayer money in this scheme. Some of the funds were 
intended to provide daycare services for disabled children, but he, 
instead, spent the money on constructing a luxury resort and nightclub 
in Nigeria.
  This Nigerian ``Prince of Fraud'' was outdone by California prison 
inmates, who collected about $1 billion in unemployment benefits by 
using names like ``John Doe,'' ``John Adams,'' and ``Poopy Britches'' 
while serving time behind bars.
  Other con artists successfully applied for COVID cash during the 
pandemic by using the names of well-known celebrities and fictional 
characters, like ``Charlie Brown'' and ``Nancy Drew.''

[[Page S4218]]

  Taxpayer dollars have even been handed out to phony businesses with 
such obviously made-up names that are so outrageous that no one could 
possibly believe they were real, such as ``Satanic Lives Matter'' and 
others that are so tasteless I can't even say them.
  Others uploaded pictures of doll faces to ``verify'' their identities 
on applications for government assistance and were still approved. Too 
often, the bilking is being done by the very bureaucrats who are 
overseeing the benefits. Over the years, I have documented countless 
examples of government employees who have been caught with their hands 
in the cookie jar--embezzling millions of dollars and abusing their 
positions for personal gain.
  As a veteran, one particular example that really makes my blood boil 
involves a service representative for the Department of Veterans 
Affairs who was shaking down disabled veterans for bribes to ``grease 
the wheels'' to speed up the approval of backlogged claims. A $3,385 
kickback paid to him via Venmo was listed on the memo line as ``crooked 
shit.'' I apologize for my language, but that is what the Venmo 
actually said. We had to modify our chart today. So a VA representative 
was shaking down disabled veterans. This actually happened. That 
representative was caught and is being held responsible for shaking 
down our disabled veterans.
  The problem in most of these cases is the money is going out the door 
before verifying if the recipient is legitimate. If fraud is later 
detected, then the government has to decide if it is worth trying to 
recover the stolen money. This pay-and-chase system makes it way too 
easy for scammers to take the money and run. It is like giving the cash 
advance and your bank routing number to the Nigerian ``Prince'' who 
promised you a financial reward for your help only for you to realize, 
later, you have been ripped off. Good luck getting any of your money 
back. It is the grift that keeps giving.
  As a result, fraudsters are getting away with stealing more than $1.4 
billion in taxpayer money every single day. Every single day, folks, 
$1.4 billion fraudsters are making off with. If grift were a government 
agency, the ``Department of Fraud'' would be the fifth largest. The 
$521 billion going to fraud every year exceeds the individual annual 
budgets of the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, 
Transportation, Homeland Security, State, and Justice. That is right, 
folks. Fraudsters are being better taken care of than our veterans and 
our farmers.
  While hard-working Americans are struggling to make ends meet, 
fraudsters are living large on the loot that they are taking from the 
Treasury. Government grift and graft are endless, and so are the 
excuses for not stopping it, but the public's patience isn't.
  So who is responsible for allowing fraud to continue?
  Folks, the buck stops right here with Congress. Congress decides how 
much of your paycheck must be sent to Washington, and it writes the 
laws determining exactly how every one of those dollars is spent. But 
the haste to spend trillions of tax dollars as quickly as possible is 
resulting in outrageous amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse. From fake 
childcare centers in Minnesota to convicts collecting unemployment 
checks, fraudsters are blatantly getting away with treating the 
National Treasury like their own personal piggy bank.
  At the request of Majority Leader Thune, I have compiled a 
comprehensive package of proposals put forth by our Senate colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle to end fraud once and for all.
  Specifically, my Protecting American Taxpayers Act will stop handing 
out quick cash with no questions asked, trigger automatic 
investigations when there are sudden and suspicious spikes in payment 
claims, ban convicted fraudsters from receiving taxpayer dollars, take 
back the money that was already stolen, and send scammers to the 
slammer. If enacted, this bill would save $240 billion.
  The choice is quite simple: Give this money to fraudsters or return 
it to the taxpayers.
  The bill is now before the Senate, and every day we delay in passing 
it, grifters are getting away with stealing another $1.4 billion. 
Allowing that to continue is the greatest fraud of all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I rise today as the son of a small business 
owner. I rise as someone who has seen how hard an entrepreneur must 
work to get an idea off the ground, to build a business, to keep it 
solvent, and to work year after year through ups and downs, to make 
sure one can put enough food on the table for one's family and all of 
one's employees' families. And I rise today in support of Senator 
Ernst's Protecting American Taxpayers Act.
  You see, as chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship--a committee on which I proudly serve--Senator Ernst 
has really been relentlessly focused on and has been a tireless 
advocate for combating fraud and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are 
spent responsibly--responsibly.
  So I want to thank Senator Ernst for her good work on this important 
legislation and for her ongoing efforts to shine a spotlight on waste, 
fraud, and abuse. I am especially proud that in this package is found 
my Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act.