Chattanooga Times Free Press

Republican-led committee marks COVID-19 relief aid for review

- BY KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON — House Republican­s on Wednesday began their promised aggressive oversight of the Biden administra­tion, focusing on what watchdogs described as “indication­s of widespread fraud” in federal coronaviru­s aid programs initiated under President Donald Trump.

GOP lawmakers complained that too little attention was paid to the problems when Democrats controlled Congress. Democrats blamed the Trump administra­tion for much of the mess.

More than 1,000 people have pleaded guilty or have been convicted on federal charges of defrauding the myriad COVID-19 relief programs Congress establishe­d in the early days of the pandemic. More than 600 other people and entities face federal fraud charges.

But that’s just the start, according to investigat­ors who testified as the House Oversight and Accountabi­lity Committee held its first hearing in the new Congress on fraud and waste in federal pandemic spending. Congress approved about $4.6 trillion in spending from six coronaviru­s relief laws, beginning in March 2020, when Trump was in the White House and including the $1.9 trillion package that Democrats passed in the first months of the Biden presidency.

“We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of the greatest theft of American taxpayer dollars in history,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chairman.

Gene L. Dodaro, head of the Government Accountabi­lity Office, told lawmakers that it will be some time before the full extent of fraud is known. The inspector general for the Small Business Administra­tion has more than 500 ongoing investigat­ions involving loan programs designed to help businesses meet operating expenses during the pandemic. The Labor Department’s internal watchdog continues to open at least 100 unemployme­nt insurance fraud investigat­ions each week.

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