West OC Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) issued the following statement applauding the House Passage of H.R. 1163, the Protecting Taxpayer and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act. The bill seeks to recoup the estimated $400 billion in fraudulent unemployment payments by incentivizing states to pursue investigations and prosecutions to recover the stolen funds and enables them to invest in system improvements to prevent future fraud.

"As we all now know, pandemic unemployment assistance funds became the source of the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history,” said Rep. Steel. “Estimates put the total amount of assistance lost to fraud as high as $400 billion. California alone lost around $60 billion under the leadership of President Biden’s Secretary of Labor nominee, Julie Su. As Californians in particular continue struggling under spiking prices and high taxes, it is absurd to force them to foot the bill for fraud committed while their elected leaders were asleep at the wheel. That is why I proudly supported the passage of the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act, which will address this unprecedented theft by incentivizing states, including California, to recover these stolen funds and providing tools to prevent future fraud. Government caused this problem, and it owes the American taxpayers a solution.”

Read the full text of the bill here.

Economy and Jobs

Original source can be found here.