Last week, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., introduced the “Returning Erroneous COVID Loans Addressing Illegal and Misappropriated (RECLAIM) Taxpayer Funds Act” and it is already gaining traction on Capitol Hill.
The bill “requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish processes to account for fraudulent and unused Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans distributed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The congresswoman’s office offered some of the reasons why she introduced the proposal.
“A recent report from SBA Inspector General Hannibal Ware shows that of the $1.2 trillion in COVID Economic Injury and Disaster Loans (EIDL) given by the federal government since the beginning of the pandemic, $200 billion were found to be potentially fraudulent. SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman responded with a competing report the same day claiming only $36 billion of these loans were fraudulent,” Salazar’s office noted.
“Our federal government should identify waste and return it to the taxpayer, not hide it like Isabel Guzman’s Small Business Administration is trying to do,” said Salazar. “The RECLAIM Taxpayer Funds Act bill is a crucial step toward restoring integrity to government lending and dignity back to the taxpayer.”
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., is the bill’s only co-sponsor.
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Small Business Committee, which passed it without opposition, sending it to the House floor. However, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. Senate.
