II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2742 

To establish the COVID–19 Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 

Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To establish the COVID–19 Unemployment Insurance Fraud 

Task Force, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recovering Fraudulent 

5 Claims Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COVID–19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD 

7 TASK FORCE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 

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1 torney General, in consultation with the Secretary, 

2 shall establish the COVID–19 Unemployment Insur3 ance Fraud Task Force (in this section referred to 

4 as the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

5 (2) DUTIES.— 

6 (A) INVESTIGATION.—The Task Force 

7 shall investigate fraud with respect to COVID– 

8 19 unemployment insurance benefits, including 

9 an identification of and investigation into— 

10 (i) subject to paragraph (3), any al11 leged instance of fraudulent payment of 

12 COVID–19 unemployment insurance bene13 fits to any individual, entity, or organiza14 tion (either foreign or domestic) that was 

15 not eligible to receive such benefits; and 

16 (ii) any alleged instance in which an 

17 individual, entity, or organization (either 

18 foreign or domestic) stole or attempted to 

19 steal the identity or personally identifiable 

20 information of any United States citizen in 

21 an effort to obtain COVID–19 unemploy22 ment insurance benefits, including any in23 stance of synthetic identity theft. 

24 (B) SUBMISSION OF FINDINGS TO ATTOR25 NEY GENERAL.—The Task Force shall submit 


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1 to the Attorney General the Task Force’s find2 ings with respect to the investigation conducted 

3 under subparagraph (A) to assist the Attorney 

4 General in the prosecution of fraud concerning 

5 COVID–19 unemployment insurance benefits. 

6 (3) CLARIFICATION.—The investigation con7 ducted under paragraph (2)(A) shall not include an 

8 identification of or investigation into any improper 

9 payment of COVID–19 unemployment insurance 

10 benefits to any individual that was eligible to receive 

11 such benefits. 

12 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in 

14 consultation with the Secretary, shall appoint to the 

15 Task Force a representative from each of the fol16 lowing: 

17 (A) The Office of the Inspector General of 

18 the Department of Labor. 

19 (B) The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

20 (C) The Department of Homeland Secu21 rity. 

22 (D) The Internal Revenue Service. 

23 (E) The United States Postal Service. 

24 (F) The Office of the Inspector General of 

25 the Social Security Administration. 


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1 (G) The Office of the Inspector General of 

2 the Department of Homeland Security. 

3 (H) A nonprofit organization representing 

4 State workforce agencies. 

5 (I) A national law enforcement organiza6 tion. 

7 (J) Any other organization the Attorney 

8 General, in consultation with the Secretary, de9 termines to be appropriate. 

10 (2) PROHIBITION ON COMPENSATION.—The 

11 members of the Task Force shall not receive any 

12 compensation from the Federal Government by rea13 son of their service on the Task Force. 

14 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

15 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Subject to para16 graph (3), not later than 1 year after the date on 

17 which the Task Force is established under sub18 section (a)(1), the Task Force shall submit to the 

19 appropriate committees of Congress a report that 

20 contains a detailed description of the following: 

21 (A) The Task Force’s findings with respect 

22 to the investigation conducted under subsection 

23 (a)(2)(A), including the following: 

24 (i) The total number of individuals 

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1 zations (either foreign or domestic) that 

2 were identified by the Task Force as hav3 ing allegedly obtained or attempted to ob4 tain fraudulent payments of COVID–19 

5 unemployment insurance benefits, includ6 ing the amount of such benefits that were 

7 identified by the Task Force as having 

8 been obtained. 

9 (ii) The total number of individuals 

10 and an itemized list of entities and organi11 zations (either foreign or domestic) that 

12 were identified by the Task Force as hav13 ing allegedly stolen or attempted to steal 

14 the identity or personally identifiable infor15 mation of any United States citizen in an 

16 effort to obtain COVID–19 unemployment 

17 insurance benefits, including any instance 

18 of synthetic identity theft. 

19 (iii) The total number of individuals 

20 and an itemized list of entities and organi21 zations (either foreign or domestic) that 

22 were identified by the Attorney General 

23 during the period beginning on the date of 

24 enactment of the CARES Act (Public Law 

25 116–136) and ending on the date of the 


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1 establishment of the Task Force under 

2 subsection (a)(1) as having allegedly ob3 tained or attempted to obtain fraudulent 

4 payments of COVID–19 unemployment in5 surance benefits. 

6 (iv) The total number of individuals 

7 and an itemized list of entities and organi8 zations (either foreign or domestic) that 

9 were identified by the Attorney General 

10 during the period beginning on the date of 

11 enactment of the CARES Act (Public Law 

12 116–136) and ending on the date of the 

13 establishment of the Task Force under 

14 subsection (a)(1) as having allegedly stolen 

15 or attempted to steal the identity or per16 sonally identifiable information of any 

17 United States citizen in an effort to obtain 

18 COVID–19 unemployment insurance bene19 fits, including any instance of synthetic 

20 identity theft. 

21 (v) The total number of individuals 

22 the Attorney General has prosecuted for 

23 fraud concerning COVID–19 unemploy24 ment insurance benefits, including a list of 

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1 on sentences or accompanying fines im2 posed. 

3 (B) The steps the Attorney General or the 

4 head of any other relevant Federal or State 

5 agency is taking, or is planning to take, to 

6 prosecute or otherwise penalize the individuals, 

7 entities, or organizations described in subpara8 graph (A). 

9 (C) Any challenge or impediment the At10 torney General or the head of any other rel11 evant Federal or State agency has encountered 

12 in prosecuting or otherwise penalizing such in13 dividuals, entities, or organizations. 

14 (D) The efforts the Attorney General or 

15 the head of any other relevant Federal or State 

16 agency is taking, or is planning to take, to re17 cover any fraudulent payment of COVID–19 

18 unemployment insurance benefits, and the chal19 lenges associated with such efforts. 

20 (E) The total amount of fraudulent 

21 COVID–19 unemployment insurance benefits 

22 that were issued by States, including a State23 by-State breakdown of such amount. 

24 (F) The total amount of fraudulent 

25 COVID–19 unemployment insurance benefits 


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1 that the Attorney General or the head of any 

2 other relevant Federal or State agency has been 

3 able to recover. 

4 (G) The specific challenges the Task Force 

5 encountered in carrying out subsection 

6 (a)(2)(A). 

7 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Subject to paragraph (3), 

8 not later than 1 year after the submission of the re9 port under paragraph (1), the Task Force shall sub10 mit to the appropriate Committees of Congress a 

11 final report that includes updated information re12 garding subparagraphs (A) through (G) of para13 graph (1). 

14 (3) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION.— 

15 No return information (as defined in section 6103(b) 

16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) may be in17 cluded in a report submitted under paragraph (1) or 

18 (2), except as authorized by such section 6103. 

19 (d) SUNSET.—The Task Force shall terminate on the 

20 later of— 

21 (1) the date on which the Task Force submits 

22 the final report under subsection (c)(2); or 

23 (2) a specific date selected by the Attorney 

24 General, in consultation with the Secretary, that 

25 falls after the date set forth in paragraph (1). 


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1 (e) DEFINITIONS.— 

2 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON3 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con4 gress’’ means— 

5 (A) the Committee on Finance of the Sen6 ate; 

7 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

8 Senate; 

9 (C) the Committee on Homeland Security 

10 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

11 (D) the Committee on Ways and Means of 

12 the House of Representatives; 

13 (E) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

14 House of Representatives; and 

15 (F) the Committee on Homeland Security 

16 of the House of Representatives. 

17 (2) COVID–19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

18 BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘COVID–19 unemployment 

19 insurance benefits’’ means unemployment insurance 

20 benefits provided under any of the programs under 

21 section 2102, 2104, or 2107 of the CARES Act (15 

22 U.S.C. 9021, 9023, 9025). 

23 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

24 the Secretary of Labor. 


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1 (4) SYNTHETIC IDENTITY THEFT.—The term 

2 ‘‘synthetic identity theft’’ means the use of a com3 bination of personally identifiable information to fab4 ricate an individual or entity in order to commit a 

5 dishonest act for personal or financial gain. 

6 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 

7 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

8 States (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Comptroller 

9 General’’) shall conduct a study on unemployment insur10 ance fraud with respect to COVID–19 unemployment in11 surance benefits (as defined in section 2(e)). Such study 

12 shall include an analysis of— 

13 (1) how the amounts appropriated under sec14 tion 2118 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9034), as 

15 added by section 9032 of the American Rescue Plan 

16 Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–2), are being utilized 

17 by States to— 

18 (A) detect and prevent fraud in any such 

19 program; and 

20 (B) recover any fraudulent payment of 

21 COVID–19 unemployment insurance benefits; 

22 (2) any reason that such appropriated amounts 

23 were not used by States to detect and prevent such 

24 fraud and to recover such fraudulent payments; 


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1 (3) whether such appropriated amounts were 

2 successful in helping States to detect and prevent 

3 such fraud and to recover such fraudulent payments; 

4 and 

5 (4) any other area determined appropriate by 

6 the Comptroller General. 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

8 of enactment of this section, the Comptroller General shall 

9 submit to Congress a report containing the results of the 

10 study conducted under subsection (a), together with rec11 ommendations for such legislation and administrative ac12 tion as the Comptroller General determines appropriate. 

Æ 


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