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Congresswoman Claudia Tenney Introduces Bill to Launch Audit of Federal COVID-19 Funding

October 21, 2021

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22), member of the House Small Business Committee, today introduced the Transparency in COVID-19 Expenditures Act, which would direct the Comptroller General of the United States to audit all funding provided by the five COVID-19 relief bills Congress has passed since the onset of the pandemic.

“Congress passed several COVID-19 relief bills since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. Since then, we’ve learned about many alarming cases of fraud, waste, and abuse in the funding and programs these bills authorized. It is imperative that we audit these funds to ensure the relief they provided made it into the right hands. I am honored to introduce this bill to ensure that your taxpayer dollars were spent responsibly.”

Since March 2020, Congress has spent an unprecedented $5.3 trillion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes many provisions that lack adequate oversight and integrity safeguards. An October 7 report by the Office of the Inspector General found that the Small Business Administration provided $4.5 billion more in Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) grants to sole proprietors and independent contractors than they were entitled to receive based on the adopted policies of the COVID-19 bills.

There are many other accounts of fraud documented, including a NASA senior executive who used grants to
pay down his credit card bills, a former NFL player who filed fraudulent loan applications and used funding from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to purchase luxury goods, and a Texas man who received $1.6 million from PPP applications to purchase a Lamborghini and other high-end goods.

There is also the issue of unused funds remaining from past COVID-19 packages that have been left unaddressed by Congress. As of September 27, untapped funding allocated in the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for state, local, territorial and tribal entities was documented to be $10.4 billion. As required by law, these funds must be used by December 31, 2021.

Taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going and that it was spent as promised. The audit authorized by this legislation will cover all spending provided in the H.R. 6074, Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020; H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act; H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act; H.R. 266, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act; Divisions M and N of H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA); and H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act.

Joining this legislation as original cosponsors are Representatives Tracey Mann (KS-01), Ted Budd (NC-13), Ralph Norman (SC-05), Chris Smith (NJ-04), Randy Weber (TX-14), Jake LaTurner (KS-02), Darrell Issa (CA-50), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Mike Gallagher (WI-08), and Mary Miller (IL-15).

The Transparency in COVID-19 Expenditures Act is the House companion to the Senate Bill S. 2851 introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).

Tenney’s bill has been endorsed by Heritage Action.

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