Rep. Tracey Mann Protects Taxpayers from Unemployment Fraud

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01) voted yes on H.R. 1163, the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act. This legislation would recover potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by providing states with incentives to investigate and recover lost funds, improve program integrity to prevent future fraud, and extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud. 

“With our national debt at $31 trillion and the Biden Administration deficit-spending more than $1 trillion every year, it’s high time Congress takes a look at places where we can claw money back from fraud,” said Rep. Mann. “This legislation would incentivize state workforce agencies to prosecute those who have committed Unemployment Insurance (UI) fraud. States are the first line of defense against this type of fraud, and H.R. 1163 is a creative way to stop a small percentage of the massive government waste that the Biden Administration’s policies have created.” 

H.R. 1163 would:

• Allow states to retain 25% of the funds they recover. Currently, state workforce agencies have little incentive to pursue costly prosecutions that do not reimburse states. 

• Allow states to use the recovered funds to improve UI program integrity, hire investigators and prosecutors, and modernize identity verification systems to prevent future fraud. 

• Allow states to retain 5% of any UI overpayments it recover and dedicate such funds to preventing future fraud.  

• Stop UI payments to incarcerated and deceased people. 

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