Condemning actors seeking to defraud the United States Government, and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the United States, and that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me be clear: Fraud in Federal programs is a real problem. It diverts money meant for children, seniors, and working families into the pockets of criminals. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar that didn't feed a hungry child, didn't help a disabled veteran, didn't reach the people that this Congress intended to help.

Democrats and Republicans have a long history of working together to stamp it out. We should continue to do that, and I thank the gentleman from Texas. I know he is sincere in his commitment to address this issue, but this resolution turns what should be a bipartisan effort into a partisan political attack that points the finger only at Democratic-led States and Governors while pretending the problem does not exist in Republican-led States.

The gentleman said we should follow the story, but this resolution is an incomplete story. It doesn't go where the story goes. Let's talk about some of the story that this resolution leaves out.

Mississippi has a Republican Governor, Tate Reeves. In the largest public fraud case in that State's history, more than $77 million was stolen from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program, money meant for some of the poorest families in America. It was diverted to professional athletes, horse farms, and a volleyball complex.

An audit found tens of millions in misspent Federal funds, and some of that money ended up in the pockets of Trump endorser and outspoken MAGA Republican Brett Favre, who took taxpayer dollars for speaking arrangements and never showed up. He pocketed the taxpayers' money and never showed up.

In December of 2024, Mississippi was ordered to repay $101 million in misspent welfare money. That State's Republican-controlled legislature has done nothing to address that fraud and corruption. As of today, they are sitting on $145 million in unallocated TANF funds with no real plan.

This resolution names Governor Walz and A.G. Ellison and mischaracterizes what has happened in Minnesota. It says nothing about Governor Reeves, who was directly implicated in the coverup of the fraud.

Let's continue to follow the story of Oklahoma and Alabama. According to Federal data, these two States, led by Republican Governors, lead the Nation in SNAP fraud. They lead the Nation. It is not Minnesota, not New York, not New Jersey, not Maryland. It is Oklahoma and Alabama. This resolution is silent in both cases.

In Florida, Federal prosecutors recently arrested a Russian national accused of submitting billions of dollars in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims through a Texas-based supplier and funneling millions overseas.

Governor DeSantis in Florida just reappointed a University of Florida board of trustees member who faces Federal charges for defrauding the government of financial aid funds. In Florida, there is not accountability for fraudsters. There are board positions.

In Tennessee, Republican State Senator Brian Kelsey was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The good news is he was sentenced to 21 months in prison. The bad news is President Trump pardoned him 15 days after he began serving that sentence.

The former Republican speaker of the Tennessee House and his chief of staff were convicted together in a public corruption case. President Trump pardoned them both, too. This resolution calls for accountability for those who steal from Federal programs.

In 2025, alone, President Trump issued pardons or commutations to 25

people convicted of fraud--wire fraud, securities fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud, healthcare fraud. Those pardons deprived fraud victims of more than a billion dollars in restitution they were owed. Americans had a billion dollars stolen from them, and they are not getting it back because President Trump pardoned the criminals.

This resolution doesn't mention it.

Another State that I don't think is in the resolution is New York, and there has been some fraud in New York. A gentleman by the name of Donald J. Trump was found liable by a New York court for a decade of business fraud, inflating his net worth and values to deceive banks and insurers. The same gentleman in the State of New York was convicted by a jury of his peers--12 jurors--of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, fraud. The same gentleman also indicted by a Federal grand jury for conspiracy to defraud the United States.

President Trump pardoned convicted fraudsters, fired 19 inspectors general who collectively uncovered over $50 billion in fraud and waste in a single year. He defunded a nonpartisan training program that prepares the next generation of Federal fraud investigators.

You can't claim to be serious about preventing fraud, whether you have a task force or not, while you are dismantling the institutions built to catch people who commit fraud.

Mr. Speaker, I support robust, bipartisan efforts to prevent fraud in Federal programs. On the Oversight Committee, Democrats and Republicans have worked together to do that, but this resolution isn't that.

I will quote a former U.S. attorney who spent his career prosecuting the healthcare fraud that is rampant in Mississippi, not mentioned in the resolution. He said: Whether a provider or beneficiary is willing to commit fraud has nothing to do with where they live or which party governs their State.

If my colleagues truly want to fight fraud, I invite them to join me in condemning Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida with the same energy they brought to fraud in other States. I invite them to condemn the pardons in 2025 that let convicted fraudsters walk free. I invite them to work with us to restore the independence of our inspectors general and fund the oversight infrastructure that this administration has defunded and gutted.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments from the gentleman from Texas. He is open and always willing to have a conversation and work on bipartisan legislation, and I appreciate that.

I do think it is unfair to suggest that the majority or the gentleman are the only ones who have done the work to understand these issues. I came to this floor with documented cases of fraud that have taken place across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the full text of the March 4, 2026, ``Democratic Staff Report--Fraud As Pretext: How the Trump Administration Sacrificed Accountability to Push a Violent, Lawless Agenda,'' which can be found at the following link: https:// oversightdemocrats.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2026-03- 04fraudaspretextstaffreport.pdf.

[March 4, 2026]

Fraud as Pretext: How the Trump Administration Sacrificed

Accountability to Push a Violent, Lawless Agenda

Democratic Staff Report: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

U.S. House of Representatives

Mr. Speaker, this report outlines some of the facts related to Minnesota and the harm done by the Trump administration's freezing of Federal funds in a number of States where law-abiding Americans who pay their taxes aren't getting the benefits that they have earned because the Trump administration has frozen funds.

I appreciate the gentleman's willingness to always engage and discuss these issues in a serious way and, as he said, follow the story wherever it leads. We have had in the Oversight Committee Governor Walz and AG Ellison.

I would just like to ask the gentleman whether he would be willing to bring to the Government Operations Subcommittee some of the Governors of the States that I outlined, where massive fraud has taken place: Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.

Can we bring any of those Governors before our committee to talk about the fraud in their States?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).

Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker.

Another significant incident of fraud that isn't mentioned in the resolution, and that we haven't mentioned yet today, took place in the State of Texas, where the Attorney General, Ken Paxton, was indicted for securities fraud, and he had to pay $300,000 in restitution and perform community service to avoid potential jail time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman: Would you be willing to ask Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to come before our committee to talk about fraud in Texas?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time.

It doesn't sound like we are going to bring any other Governors or State officials before the committee. As I noted, Governor Walz was with us for many, many hours, but no other Governors have come before us. I think that does a disservice to the American people who could benefit from hearing about the fraud in some of these other States, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the full text of the CBS News article: ``Trump says he'll stop health care fraudsters. Last time, he let them walk.''

[From CBS NEWS, April 1, 2025]

Trump Says He'll Stop Health Care Fraudsters. Last Time, He Let Them

Walk.

(By Brett Kelman)

Five years ago, the CEO of one of the largest pain clinic

companies in the Southeast was sentenced to more than three

years in prison after being convicted in a $4 million illegal

kickback scheme.

But after just four months behind bars, John Estin Davis

walked free. President Trump commuted Davis' sentence in the

last days of his first term. In a statement explaining the

decision, the White House said that ``no one suffered

financially'' from Davis' crime.

In court, however, the Trump administration was saying

something very different. As the president let him go, the

Department of Justice alleged in a civil lawsuit that Davis

and his company defrauded taxpayers out of tens of millions

of dollars with excessive urine drug testing. The DOJ alleged

that Comprehensive Pain Specialists made such a``staggering''

sum from cups of pee that employees had given the testing a

profit-minded nickname: ``liquid gold.''

Davis and the company denied all allegations in court

filings and settled the DOJ's fraud lawsuit without any

determination of liability. Davis declined to comment for

this article.

Since returning to the White House, Mr. Trump has said he

will target fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security,

and his Republican allies in Congress have made combating

fraud a key argument in their plans to slash spending on

Medicaid, which provides health care for millions of low-

income and disabled Americans. During an address to Congress

last month, Mr. Trump said his administration had found

``hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud'' without citing

any specific examples of fraud.

``Taken back a lot of that money,'' Mr. Trump said. ``We

got it just in time.''

But Mr. Trump's history of showing leniency to convicted

fraudsters contrasts with his present-day crackdown. In his

first and second terms, Mr. Trump has granted pardons or

commutations to at least 68 people convicted of fraud crimes

or of interfering with fraud investigations, according to a

KFF Health News review of court and clemency records, DOJ

press releases, and news reports. At least 13 of those

fraudsters were convicted in cases involving more than $1.6

billion of fraudulent claims filed with Medicare and

Medicaid, according to the Department of Justice.

And as one of the first actions of his second term, Mr.

Trump fired 17 independent inspectors general responsible for

rooting out fraud and waste in government.

It sends a really bad message and really hurts DOJ efforts

at creating deterrence,'' said Jacob Elberg, a former

assistant U.S. attorney and law professor at Seton Hall

University in New Jersey. ``In order to reduce health care

fraud, you need people both to be afraid of getting in

trouble, but also for people to believe in the legitimacy of

the system.''

Elberg said considerable fraud in Medicare and Medicaid

exists largely because the programs' ``pay-and-chase models''

prioritize paying for patient care first and tracking down

stolen dollars second. To prevent more fraud, the programs

would likely need to be redesigned in ways that would be

slower and more cumbersome for all patients, Elberg said.

Regardless, Elberg said the president's claimed focus on

fraud appears to be a pretext for slashing spending that has

been legally appropriated by Congress. Mr. Trump has

empowered the Elon Musk-led Department of Government

Efficiency, which he established and named by executive

order, to make deep cuts in federal budgets, halting some

medical research and aid programs in addition to cutting

spending on climate change, transgender health, and

diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

``What's been the focal point to date of the administration

is not what anybody has ever referred to as health care

fraud,'' Elberg said. ``There is a real blurring--a seemingly

intentional blurring--between what is actually fraud and what

is just spending that they are not in favor of.''

Jerry Martin, who served as a U.S. attorney for the Middle

District of Tennessee under President Barack Obama and now

represents health care fraud whistleblowers, also said Mr.

Trump's focus on fraud appeared to be ``just a platform to

attack things that they don't agree with'' rather than ``a

genuine desire to root out and combat fraud.''

Even so, Martin said some of his whistleblower clients have

been emboldened.

``I've had clients repeat back to me `President Trump says

fraud is a priority,' '' Martin said. ``People are listening

to it. But I don't know that what he's saying translates into

what they believe.''

The White House did not respond to requests for comment for

this article.

A billion-dollar fraud case and needless eye injections

Presidents enjoy the unique authority to erase federal

convictions and prison sentences with pardons and

commutations. In theory, the power is intended to be a final

bulwark against injustice or overly harsh punishment. But

many presidents have been accused of using the pardon power

to reward powerful allies and close associates as they leave

the White House.

Mr. Trump issued about 190 pardons and commutations in the

final two months of his first term, including for some health

care fraudsters convicted of schemes with astonishing costs.

For example, Mr. Trump granted a commutation to Philip

Esformes, a Florida health care executive convicted in 2019

of a $1.3 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme. After

he was sentenced, DOJ announced in a press release that ``the

man behind one of the biggest health care frauds in history

will be spending 20 years in prison.'' Mr. Trump freed him 14

months later.

Mr. Trump also granted a commutation to Salomon Melgen, a

Florida eye doctor who was serving a 17-year prison sentence

for defrauding Medicare of $42 million. Melgen falsely

diagnosed patients with eye diseases, then gave them

unnecessary care, including laser treatments and painful eye

injections, according to DOJ and court documents.

``Salomon Melgen callously took advantage of patients who

came to him fearing blindness,'' said a DOJ news release

after Melgen was sentenced in 2018. ``They received medically

unreasonable and unnecessary tests and procedures that

victimized his patients and the American taxpayer.''

DOJ: $70 million spent on ``excessive'' urine testing

Despite the flurry of pardons and commutations at the end

of Mr. Trump's first term, the leniency he showed Davis was

unique. Davis was the only convicted health care fraudster to

receive clemency while the Trump administration was

simultaneously accusing him of more fraud.

As CEO of Comprehensive Pain Specialists from 2011 to 2017,

Davis oversaw a rapid expansion to more than 60 locations

across 12 states, according to federal court documents.

He was indicted in 2018 for using his CEO position to refer

Medicare patients in need of medical equipment to a

conspirator in return for kickbacks paid through a shell

company, according to court documents. He was convicted at

trial in April 2019 of defrauding Medicare.

Three months later, the DOJ filed a fraud lawsuit against

Davis and CPS that piggybacked on the claims of seven

whistleblowers. The lawsuit alleged that CPS collected more

than $70 million from federal insurance programs for urine

drug testing, most of which was ``excessive,'' and that an

audit of a sampling of the tests had found at least 93%

``lacked medical necessity.''

Typically, government insurance programs pay for urine

testing so pain clinics can verify that patients are taking

their prescriptions properly and not abusing any other drugs,

which could contribute to an overdose. Patients could be

tested as little as once a year or as often as monthly

depending on their level of risk, according to the DOJ

lawsuit.

But Comprehensive Pain Specialists performed ``myriad urine

drug testing on virtually every CPS patient on virtually

every visit'' then conducted ``at least 16 different types of

tests'' on each sample, and sometimes as many as 51,

according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Trump commuted Davis' sentence for his criminal

conviction in January 2021 as the DOJ was finalizing a

settlement in the civil lawsuit. The commutation was

supported by country music star Luke Bryan, according to a

White House statement.

Months later, with President Joe Biden in office, CPS and

its owners agreed to repay $4.1 million--less than 10% of the

damages sought in the suit--and the case was closed.

In the settlement, Davis agreed not to take any job where

he would ever again bill Medicare or other federal health

care programs. He was not required to personally repay

anything.

Martin, who represented one of the whistleblowers who first

raised allegations

against Davis and CPS, said the leniency that Mr. Trump

showed to him and other health care fraudsters may discourage

DOJ employees from pursuing similar investigations during his

second term.

``There are a lot of rank-and-file people who are operating

at the lowest point in their professional careers, where

they've seen a lot of their work essentially be water under

the bridge,'' Martin said. ``That's got to be really

demoralizing.''

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the full text of a PBS News article: ``Trump's pardons included health care execs behind massive frauds.''

[From PBS News, Jan. 22, 2021]

Trump's Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons

to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles

that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly

and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers.

``These aren't just technical financial crimes. These were

major, major crimes,'' said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive

officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association,

an advocacy group.

The list of some 200 Trump pardons or commutations, most

issued as he vacated the White House this week, included at

least seven doctors or health care entrepreneurs who ran

discredited health care enterprises, from nursing homes to

pain clinics. One is a former doctor and California hospital

owner embroiled in a massive workers' compensation kickback

scheme that prosecutors alleged prompted more than 14,000

dubious spinal surgeries. Another was in prison after

prosecutors accused him of ripping off more than $1 billion

from Medicare and Medicaid through nursing homes and other

senior care facilities, among the largest frauds in U.S.

history.

``All of us are shaking our heads with these insurance

fraud criminals just walking free,'' said Matthew Smith,

executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

The White House argued all deserved a second chance. One man

was said to have devoted himself to prayer, while another

planned to resume charity work or other community service.

Others won clemency at the request of prominent Republican

ex-attorneys general or others who argued their crimes were

victimless or said critical errors by prosecutors had led to

improper convictions.

Trump commuted the sentence of former nursing home magnate

Philip Esformes in late December. He was serving a 20-year

sentence for bilking $1 billion from Medicare and Medicaid.

An FBI agent called him ``a man driven by almost unbounded

greed.'' Prosecutors said that Esformes used proceeds from

his crimes to make a series of ``extravagant purchases,

including luxury automobiles and a $360,000 watch.''

Esformes also bribed the basketball coach at the University

of Pennsylvania ``in exchange for his assistance in gaining

admission for his son into the university,'' according to

prosecutors.

Fraud investigators had cheered the conviction. In 2019,

the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association gave its

annual award to the team responsible for making the case.

Saccoccio said that such cases are complex and that

investigators sometimes spend years and put their ``heart and

soul'' into them. ``They get a conviction and then they see

this happen. It has to be somewhat demoralizing.''

Tim McCormack, a Maine lawyer who represented a

whistleblower in a 2007 kickback case involving Esformes,

said these cases ``are not just about stealing money.''

``This is about betraying their duty to their patients.

This is about using their vulnerable, sick and trusting

patients as an ATM to line their already rich pockets,'' he

said. He added: ``These pardons send the message that if you

are rich and connected and powerful enough, then you are

above the law.''

The Trump White House saw things much differently.

``While in prison, Mr. Esformes, who is 52, has been

devoted to prayer and repentance and is in declining

health,'' the White House pardon statement said.

The White House said the action was backed by former

Attorneys General Edwin Meese and Michael Mukasey, while Ken

Starr, one of Trump's lawyers in his first impeachment trial,

filed briefs in support of his appeal claiming prosecutorial

misconduct related to violating attorney-client privilege.

Trump also commuted the sentence of Salomon Melgen, a

Florida eye doctor who had served four years in federal

prison for fraud. That case also ensnared U.S. Sen. Robert

Menendez (D-N.J.), who was acquitted in the case and helped

seek the action for his friend, according to the White House.

Prosecutors had accused Melgen of endangering patients with

needless injections to treat macular degeneration and other

unnecessary medical care, describing his actions as ``truly

horrific'' and ``barbaric and inhumane,'' according to a

court filing.

Melgen ``not only defrauded the Medicare program of tens of

millions of dollars, but he abused his patients--who were

elderly, infirm, and often disabled--in the process,''

prosecutors wrote.

These treatments ``involved sticking needles in their eyes,

burning their retinas with a laser, and injecting dyes into

their bloodstream.''

Prosecutors said the scheme raked in ``a staggering amount

of money.'' Between 2008 and 2013, Medicare paid the solo

practitioner about $100 million. He took in an additional $10

million from Medicaid, the government health care program for

low-income people, $62 million from private insurance, and

approximately $3 million in patients' payments, prosecutors

said.

In commuting Melgen's sentence, Trump cited support from

Menendez and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). ``Numerous

patients and friends testify to his generosity in treating

all patients, especially those unable to pay or unable to

afford healthcare insurance,'' the statement said.

In a statement, Melgen, 66, thanked Trump and said his

decision ended ``a serious miscarriage of justice.''

``Throughout this ordeal, I have come to realize the very

deep flaws in our justice system and how people are at the

complete mercy of prosecutors and judges. As of today, I am

committed to fighting for unjustly incarcerated people,''

Melgen said. He denied harming any patients.

Faustino Bernadett, a former California anesthesiologist

and hospital owner, received a full pardon. He had been

sentenced to 15 months in prison in connection with a scheme

that paid kickbacks to doctors for admitting patients to

Pacific Hospital of Long Beach for spinal surgery and other

treatments.

``As a physician himself, defendant knew that exchanging

thousands of dollars in kickbacks in return for spinal

surgery services was illegal and unethical,'' prosecutors

wrote.

Many of the spinal surgery patients ``were injured workers

covered by workers' compensation insurance. Those patient-

victims were often blue-collar workers who were especially

vulnerable as a result of their injuries,'' according to

prosecutors.

The White House said the conviction ``was the only major

blemish'' on the doctor's record. While Bernadett failed to

report the kickback scheme, ``he was not part of the

underlying scheme itself,'' according to the White House.

The White House also said Bernadett was involved in

numerous charitable activities, including ``helping protect

his community from COVID-19.'' ``President Trump determined

that it is in the interests of justice and Dr. Bernadett's

community that he may continue his volunteer and charitable

work,'' the White House statement read.

Others who received pardons or commutations included Sholam

Weiss, who was said to have been issued the longest sentence

ever for a white collar crime--835 years. ``Mr. Weiss was

convicted of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and

obstruction of justice, for which he has already served over

18 years and paid substantial restitution. He is 66 years old

and suffers from chronic health conditions,'' according to

the White House.

John Davis, the former CEO of Comprehensive Pain

Specialists, the Tennessee-based chain of pain management

clinics, had spent four months in prison. Federal prosecutors

charged Davis with accepting more than $750,000 in illegal

bribes and kickbacks in a scheme that billed Medicare $4.6

million for durable medical equipment.

Trump's pardon statement cited support from country singer

Luke Bryan, said to be a friend of Davis'.

``Notably, no one suffered financially as a result of his

crime and he has no other criminal record,'' the White House

statement reads.

``Prior to his conviction, Mr. Davis was well known in his

community as an active supporter of local charities. He is

described as hardworking and deeply committed to his family

and country. Mr. Davis and his wife have been married for 15

years, and he is the father of three young children.''

CPS was the subject of a November 2017 investigation by KHN

that scrutinized its Medicare billings for urine drug

testing. Medicare paid the company at least $11 million for

urine screenings and related tests in 2014, when five of CPS'

medical professionals stood among the nation's top such

Medicare billers.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the CBS Miami article: ``Florida Eye Doctor Salomon Melgen Gets Clemency From Trump In Medicare Fraud.''

[From CBS News Miami, Jan. 21, 2021]

Florida Eye Doctor Salomon Melgen Gets Clemency From Trump in Medicare

Fraud

Rappers, a real estate investor convicted in a Ponzi scheme

and a once-prominent eye doctor were Floridians on former

President Donald Trump's clemency list hours before he exited

the presidency.

Trump commuted the sentence of Salomon Melgen, who was

convicted in 2017 of defrauding Medicare out of $73 million

by persuading numerous elderly patients to undergo tests and

get treatment for diseases they did not actually have.

Melgen was serving 17 years at a Miami prison, but was

released early on Wednesday, Jan. 20 after he was included on

a list of more than 140 people who were either pardoned or

had their sentences commuted by Trump during his last hours

in the White House.

A federal jury in New Jersey failed to reach a verdict

later in 2017 on charges that Melgen provided bribery gifts

to Democratic

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. A mistrial was declared in

that case.

A White House statement credited Menendez with supporting

clemency for Melgen, who was a donor to Democratic

politicians and a longtime friend of the Cuban-American New

Jersey senator. The statement said clemency for Melgen also

was supported by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida

Republican, and members of Brigade 2506, the Cuban exile

group involved in the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in

1961.

``Numerous patients and friends testify to his generosity

in treating all patients, especially those unable to pay or

unable to afford healthcare insurance,'' the White House

statement said.

In a statement of his own, Menendez said he did very little

on Melgen's behalf and did not expect the clemency decision

from Trump. There's also scant evidence of any relationship

between Trump and Melgen.

``I don't pretend to know what motivates President Trump to

act, but I am pretty sure it's not me,'' Menendez said.

``Months ago, I was asked if I could offer insight about an

old friend, and I did, along with what I understand were more

than 100 individuals and organizations, including his former

patients and local Hispanic groups familiar with Sal's

leadership and philanthropy in the South Florida community.''

Melgen, originally from the Dominican Republic and a

Harvard-trained ophthalmologist, became a notable Democratic

fundraiser, hosting numerous events at his home in North Palm

Beach. He once treated former Florida Democratic Gov. Lawton

Chiles, who appointed him to a state board.

Others on Trump's clemency list included:

Rapper Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter

Jr., was given a full pardon. The Grammy-winner was charged

in Florida on Nov. 17 with possession of a firearm by a

convicted felon, a federal offense that carries a potential

sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Rapper Kodak Black, whose real name is Bill K. Kapri, was

granted a commutation. The ``Tunnel Vision'' rapper is

serving a three-year prison sentence for falsifying documents

used to purchase weapons at a Miami gun store.

Fred Davis Clark Jr. had his 40-year prison sentence

commuted. He was convicted in 2016 of falsely promising his

company could turn dilapidated properties in Florida, Las

Vegas and the Caribbean into luxury resorts that would bring

investors fat returns. In reality, the operation was a Ponzi

scheme that used money from new investors to pay existing

ones while Clark took millions off the top.

That does come up in the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a Kaiser Family Foundation Health News article: ``Trump's Health Fraud Focus at Odds With Past Pardons.''

Trump's Health Fraud Focus at Odds With Past Pardons

Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump

has made combating fraud a centerpiece of his administration.

Trump has said he will target fraud in Medicare, Medicaid,

and Social Security programs, and his Republican allies in

Congress have made combating fraud a key argument in their

plans to slash Medicaid. Trump also has empowered the Elon

Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency to make massive

cuts to government spending, often claiming to snuff out

fraud and waste in the process.

Trump's present-day crackdown starkly contrasts with his

history of showing leniency to convicted fraudsters. In his

first and second terms, Trump has granted pardons or

commutations to at least 68 people convicted of fraud crimes

or interfering with fraud investigations, according to a KFF

Health News review of court and clemency records, Department

of Justice press releases, and news reports. At least 13 of

those fraudsters were convicted in cases involving more than

$1.6 billion in fraudulent claims filed with Medicare and

Medicaid, according to the DOJ.

In interviews with KFF Health News, two experts on health

care fraud said that Trump's claimed focus appears to be a

pretext for slashing spending that was legally appropriated

by Congress.

``What's been the focal point to date of the administration

is not what anybody has ever referred to as health care

fraud,'' said Jacob Elberg, a former assistant U.S. attorney

and law professor at Seton Hall University. ``There is a real

blurring--a seemingly intentional blurring--between what is

actually fraud and what is just spending that they are not in

favor of.''

Jerry Martin, who served as a U.S. attorney for the Middle

District of Tennessee under President Barack Obama and now

represents health care fraud whistleblowers, said Trump's

stepped-up interest may embolden informants to come forward.

``I've had clients repeat back to me `President Trump says

fraud is a priority,' '' Martin said. ``People are listening

to it. But I don't know that what he's saying translates into

what they believe.''

Even so, Trump's past leniency to fraudsters might

discourage the Justice Department from pursuing the

whistleblowers' claims, Martin said.

``There are a lot of rank-and-file people who are operating

at the lowest point in their professional careers, where

they've seen a lot of their work essentially be water under

the bridge,'' Martin said, ``That's got to be really

demoralizing.''

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to Minnesota--and this is laid out in the report that I entered into the Record--the majority's own investigation does not support the assertions that they make in their resolution here today. Witnesses that were questioned did not support the claims that Governor Walz or Attorney General Ellison directed anyone to ignore fraud.

Instead, they describe the fraud controls, the law enforcement partnerships, and the steps to stop fraudulent payments. Minnesota's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has prosecuted more than 300 cases and recovered more than $80 million for taxpayers. Those prosecutions were well underway long before the majority on the Oversight Committee took any interest in the situation.

There is some more fraud that I haven't discussed yet today, and it is taking place in the Trump administration. President Trump accepted a $400 million plane from a foreign government, in my view, I think quite clearly, in violation of the Constitution.

The Air Force then had to modify that plane to address security concerns. Those modifications are estimated to cost a billion dollars. The Air Force won't tell us. Taxpayers spent at least $1 billion to modify the gifted jet that the President got from the Qatari Government.

Maybe you would be okay with that if it was a gift to the United States of America. What is going to happen to the plane in 2029? It will be transferred to the Donald Trump Presidential Library Foundation. Those transfer costs, to transfer the $400 million gift the President took from the Qatari Government, were also paid for by the taxpayers.

The taxpayers are getting a raw deal here, and President Trump is getting a brand new, $400 million--I should say $1.4 billion--jet.

I haven't talked yet about the digital schemes. World Liberty Financial was started by the Trump family in 2024. Most of the profits flow directly to the Trump family. It is estimated they have profited $1.6 billion. Where did that money come from? It came from people who bought meme coins and have seen the value of those coins plummet. Constituents maybe in my district or yours, Mr. Speaker, who have lost money, that money is in the pockets of the Trump family.

I haven't gotten into the conflicts of interest, the stock trades, the prediction market profits.

I heard the White House created a task force to prevent fraud. This White House and this Cabinet are a task force to commit fraud. It is well-documented.

I was reading the resolution, and one of the whereas clauses says: ``Whereas the Department of Justice has also discovered that $250 million meant for a child nutrition program was instead spent on luxury cars. . . . '' That is bad. That is outrageous. Whoever did that should be prosecuted.

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if it would surprise my friends on the other side of the aisle to know that President Trump's Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Secretary Noem, spent hundreds of millions of dollars, not on luxury cars, but on luxury jets. They bought, not one, but two of the top-of-the-line Gulfstream G700s.

Secretary Noem basically walked into the proverbial Gulfstream dealership and said: I don't want the base model. That is not good enough. I want the most expensive model, the biggest, with the softest leather seats. I am not going to pay for it. I am going to send the bill to the taxpayers, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

I have called on Secretary Mullin to sell those jets, recoup hundreds of millions of dollars for the taxpayers and go back to flying the more modest Gulfstream G550 that previous DHS Secretaries flew.

I wonder if the gentleman would join me in that request of Secretary Mullin to sell the Gulfstreams and fly in a more modest jet, as previous Secretaries have.

I share the outrage about this taxpayer money being spent on luxury cars. Surely, we shouldn't be spending it on luxury jets.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).

Mr. Speaker, I have no speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, President Trump's pardons and commutations have wiped away billions of dollars in victim restitution, forfeiture, and fines. That includes people who have been pardoned who were convicted of securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, tax evasion, healthcare fraud, and public corruption.

President Trump commuted the sentence of Lawrence Duran, who helped lead a massive Medicare fraud scheme that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims and more than $87 million in restitution.

He commuted Joseph Schwartz, whose nursing home empire collapsed after years of neglect and fraud, leaving patients, workers, and families devastated.

Let's not forget the $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 cop beaters, that he continues to try to put in place.

Let's be clear, Mr. Speaker, the other side wants to lecture us about fraud. They stay silent as this administration lets convicted fraudsters walk free and wipes away the money owed to victims and taxpayers.

It doesn't stop there. As I noted, President Trump and his family stand to personally and financially benefit from some of these actions.

In April of 2026, a drone manufacturer, backed by Eric and Donald Trump, Jr., won its first DOD contract to supply drones to the Pentagon, while their father and the President of the United States led the country into an illegal war with Iran.

We have fraud being perpetrated on the American public with memecoins, no-bid contracts, Tom Homan's alleged $50,000 paper bag of money, insider trading in the White House, and the appearance, at least, maybe more, of pardons for sale.

It is hard to take seriously this resolution, expressing to be concerned about fraud, when there is massive fraud taking place and the majority says and does nothing.

A serious anti-fraud agenda would strengthen inspectors general, fully fund the Government Accountability Office, and protect independent oversight. This resolution doesn't do that.

While oversight Democrats will oppose this partisan resolution, we are going to continue to support legislation and continue to work in a bipartisan way to combat financial fraud and improper payments, protect the privacy of sensitive taxpayer information, toughen Federal ethics laws, and hold fraudsters accountable, especially those that have been pardoned by President Trump.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 1335) condemning actors seeking to defraud the United States Government, and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the United States, and that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we are facing a national emergency of fraud in Federal programs that is impacting all Americans. We have watched and been very sad to see the deficit that keeps rising in this country, but it also comes from fraud, whereby money that was spent by the Federal Government is given to people who did not earn and are not entitled to those resources.

According to the Government Accountability Office, the GAO, the Federal Government is estimated to lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud against all Federal programs and operations.

This means that the average American taxpayer spends between $1,000 and $3,000 annually just to line the pockets of fraudsters and criminals.

While vulnerable Americans are robbed of benefits, these programs are designed to provide things that we have authorized them for, and they are being stolen. They are being taken advantage of.

It is time that Congress makes sure that the American public understands the true extent of the problem so that Congress can be empowered to enact bold legislation to address fraud in programs.

Mr. Speaker, our chairman, James Comer, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, listed it as one of the priorities not just for this Congress but for the American people to know that Congress is doing their job. They are doing their job to not only approach and attack this problem, but they are going to make sure that the American people have a clear viewpoint of where this happened, why it is happening, and what Congress intends to do about it.

As a result of my serving as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, I have held six hearings where we investigated and looked at not only how and why this happened, but the real question is: What is Congress doing in the Federal Government to make sure that they stop this issue by addressing it?

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to a report that was issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is titled: ``The Cost of Doing Nothing: How Tim Walz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota's Fraud Explosion.'' https://oversight.house.gov/wp- content/uploads/2026/06/MN-Fraud-Final-Staff-Report.pdf

Mr. Speaker, the cost of doing nothing means that we allow it to continue. That is why we are on the floor today, to give the American people a clear answer of not only what happened and how it happened, but also who is responsible for these actions.

I would assume, based upon what I have seen over the last few weeks, that our friends who are Democrats will come to this floor and vote ``no.'' They want to act like they deny what is happening. Yet, during every single one of these hearings, our friends showed up and were very critical and really asked thoughtful questions. They asked questions of how and why and what we are going to do. Today is an opportunity where we will lay out that story for the American people and say this is a national disgrace.

What we are bringing with H. Res. 1335 today will make clear to the American people, from the United States Congress, what we would like to have every single Member understand and vote for because it impacts every single congressional district.

As the father of a disabled young man, a Down syndrome young man, I will tell you that the benefits that my son or others who are disabled count on the Federal Government to be able to properly provide to them, as provided by law, the things that they are entitled to, many other people not only come and make claims that are not true but devise a process by which to take money away from those who it was designed to help.

In every State across the country, fraud in Federal programs has run rampant. That is why you have seen, based upon not just us ringing the bell to let people know, but really the media also speaking up about this national disgrace. It has allowed Governors and people who run local agencies to relook at who they are and what their agencies are doing. It has caused, all across this country, people to go look for these types of circumstances to make sure it is not in their backyard. That is also why we are here today. We will provide a flashlight, a guiding light, to show people what has happened, how it happened, and what we need to do about it.

The Oversight Committee has taken decisive action in this investigation. They have taken time to understand the fraud. They have taken time to make sure they have looked at those actors behind this, what were the reasons why this happened, and who is responsible. It will provide a guiding light for States and counties and cities all across this country to make sure that it is not a disgrace that is being placed upon them.

These programs needed to be highlighted. They needed the review. They needed the light of day. They needed to know the story. That is exactly what this report is.

This report is factually based with data, information, and things that every Member should be willing to support. This is a resolution. It is not changing the law. It is saying we are going to say to the American people: On our watch, these things happened.

I think that it is important to note that there will be things that are uncomfortable. There are things that are uncomfortable that happened.

I don't want to sit here today and just point a finger at any particular person, but you go where the story goes.

The Oversight Committee's investigation into Minnesota social services programs uncovered $9 billion that was potentially stolen by fraudsters. This was very interesting, Mr. Speaker, because it was a systematic understanding of how people went about this, how people turned a blind eye to not only the things that were happening but perhaps even abetted and helped these people to sustain this fraud ring that went on against their own people.

The facts of the case are, the media has showed up, investigators have showed up, and so did our investigators. We had investigators go to places who were receiving millions and millions of dollars which was done across a wide range of things. In Minnesota, it

was $9 billion. The money that was stolen by these criminals was taxpayer money. They were taxpayer dollars that were placed there for the benefit of the people in Minnesota. I think that we should have an outrage by the people and those Members of Congress from Minnesota. They should show up here and say: Thank you for helping us. We are not going to go to fight anymore. We are going to go to fix.

That is what this does. This gives a roadmap to not just Members of Congress and not just the media. The American people will get the story, see how it happened and who turned a blind eye to doing their job.

The money that was stolen by these criminals were taxpayer dollars intended to feed children, educate children, take care of those who may have a disability, help low-income seniors, help veterans, and help people who look to the Federal Government.

Our votes here say yes, we want these Federal programs. Yet, the people closest to the action, the people responsible, those who were elected, those with oversight responsibility, those who have prosecutorial responsibilities, those who had a job to be a part not just of the American way of doing business but a part of what our democracy is, turned a blind eye to the facts, reality, and the things that were going on right underneath their noses.

Meanwhile, senior State officials, including the Governor and the Attorney General, both former colleagues of ours who distinguished themselves in this body, were aware of this widespread fraud for years.

Mr. Speaker, that is a story in and of itself. These officials possessed the legal and prosecutorial authority to stop fraud payments but repeatedly failed to not only hear the warnings but to act against those who were whistleblowers. They retaliated against those who did bring that to them.

This is something that needs to be available for every Governor in every State and territory. When you ignore doing your job, there are people who will pay attention. There are questions that will be asked, and there is going to be some sort of review.

I will tell you, the American people are tired. They are tired of people in elected places who will turn a blind eye to not just the responsibility but with the knowledge that this was intended for maybe someone in their family, certainly someone in their community.

When we talk about education, disability payments, poor people, helping widows, helping veterans, that is the story that is being told today.

In April of this year, Federal authorities raided more than 20 locations in Minnesota as part of the ongoing Federal investigation. This included the Quality Learning Center. The self-named Quality Learning Center, was a so-called childcare center with no children being found, yet millions of dollars being sucked down by fraudsters. Fraud in Minnesota became just the tip of the iceberg in this instance as we saw.

Whether it is widespread fraud in California in the hospice system or fraud in the Medicare waiver program in Ohio or New York, it is clear that our local, elected officials, who have the responsibility, need to pay attention to the clear warnings that are being made.

The Trump administration has taken decisive action to combat fraud, waste, and abuse by establishing the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

Since March, the task force has uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of fraud just in the State of California, including other government contracts that should go to women, children, veterans, and people with disabilities.

H. Res. 1335, sponsored by the gentleman from Texas Congressman Pat Fallon and those on the subcommittee and committee, emphasize that these schemes across the country harm the American taxpayer and the vulnerable recipients who expect to receive them. Congress must condemn these actions and make sure they are available.

I encourage each of the Members who will be voting today to understand the real need of what we are doing here today. It is more than just a Paul Revere call to action. It is an actual story about how local people turned a blind eye, retaliated against those who came and provided feedback, and then did nothing and waited until billions of dollars were wasted.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that what I am doing here today is giving an open invitation to all the Members of this body to come and see this for what it is. It is available to them. It is something that everyone has seen the story.

The question is: Will we today, openly, as a body, understand that this is something that happened in their backyard or could be in their backyard, and they need to use this story. Today, an ``aye'' vote will do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on both sides, please.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to respond to the gentleman. I do want to respond to the gentleman and tell him today is that open invitation. He and I know that this is a lot of work, work that is factually based. It is not just showing up--and I don't doubt anything he has said--but showing up with the evidence of who, how, where, why did this happen, and what is being done. I would just say that the gentleman knows that our Government Operations Subcommittee is ready and open and available--that he would have to admit here on the floor-- on a bipartisan basis.

If the gentleman wants to use the word ``bipartisan'' and say this is an attack, then bring the things that he would want us also to look at, but please don't make this political because we have done our homework, because we have aimed at where the problem is, because we have done these hearings. We have had people directly in front of us with their hands raised. We did the work. We did the facts of the case, and I think--

The gentleman has his own time. He has 23 minutes.

The gentleman needs to understand that he, too, sits at one of these tables where they can have witnesses called. They can have their staff do these things, and they can go investigate. They know that perhaps most of all, I will be very open to listening to them.

That is because if there is one thing I have done over the last few years, and when I was chairman of the Rules Committee, it is to listen to other people and to try to at least offer to the body an opportunity to see the facts of the case.

I think it is an easy thing to come down here--and I respect the gentleman. I make sure that he is involved in all of our hearings, but to come down here without evidence or hard work and make claims, I think, is a very difficult thing when we are expected, as Members of Congress and our staffs, to do these things right.

Mr. Speaker, we want to continue the story.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Finstad), who was on the winning baseball team last night and did a great job.

This resolution that we are going to vote on today highlights fraud in Ohio, a Republican-led State. It is right in the report. It is right here.

This Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has also had an ongoing investigation, including Medicare fraud in Ohio. The committee held a hearing on that Medicaid fraud in Ohio just last week. Just last week, both the staffs were aware of that, and we brought in Ohio State officials to testify to get them on record just like we did, as the gentleman knows, in Minnesota and other States. I appreciate the gentleman asking the question.

Mr. Speaker, I will answer that question, and the answer is clear: The State of Texas that has that authority and responsibility did that in extensive hearings and extensive reports that led up to action by the State of Texas officially in the legislature to bring him before them, and he has answered every question he could have answered. It is on the record and there for all the world to see.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman knows that not only am I open to this, but my door is open in my office. It is open for a reason. It is open for a reason, not just for those who might agree with me, but for those who might disagree with me or those who might want to do business. My door is open. My availability is there.

I believe that the issues today that we are trying to talk about are fraud, not politics, and we have attempted to look at fraud where it is. The gentleman knows where my office is, and he knows I am open.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has an opportunity to bring forth more than public data. He has the ability to go and take testimony, to gather the information. I encourage the gentleman to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, the American people and Members of Congress have heard the story today: 200-plus pages of factual data, six hearings, and the opportunity on a bipartisan basis to develop the facts of the case from people's own testimony.

Today, we have a request for us to listen to the minority. This has been done for the last year and a half; opportunity for hearings, opportunity for their staff to develop the same kind of factually based information, not public data, not something that they read somewhere but to bring to the floor, to bring to the subcommittee and the committee, the hard facts of the case.

Mr. Speaker, I think we have made our point today, and that point is that there were people who were elected who chose not only to not listen but, when people came forward who were whistleblowers, they took retaliatory action against them. They have denied their involvement, and, yet, the mounds of data suggest otherwise.

Mr. Speaker, I think today this subcommittee and this committee are bringing forth, through Mr. Fallon's resolution, an opportunity to say enough is enough. It should be a story that is told by every one of us. We invite their vote.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1345 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 1345 provides consideration for four measures. The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, H.R. 8464, and H. Res. 1335 under closed rules, with 1 hour of debate each equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, or their designees, and provides one motion to recommit for H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464.

The rule also provides for consideration of S. 2 under a closed rule, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Budget, or their designees, and provides for one motion to commit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in support of the underlying legislation.

The rule before us provides for consideration of four measures that address two of the Federal Government's most fundamental responsibilities: Safeguarding taxpayer dollars and protecting the American people.

At a time when Americans are demanding greater accountability from Washington, these measures represent commonsense steps to ensure that government is carrying out the basic responsibilities that taxpayers expect it to perform.

Mr. Speaker, every year, Washington loses hundreds of billions of dollars, taxpayer dollars, to fraud, improper payments, and abuse. Every year, Americans are told the same exact thing: Nothing can be done about it. Well, if you don't try, nothing can be done about it.

Taxpayer dollars go out the door, fraudsters cash the checks, government bureaucrats write reports about what happens after the fact, and taxpayers are left holding the bill.

Americans are, frankly, tired of it. They are tired of watching Washington lose track of billions of dollars while hardworking families are expected to just pay the tab and not worry about it.

Nowhere has this failure been more visible than in the State of Minnesota. Americans watched as massive fraud schemes ripped off taxpayers and exposed just how vulnerable government programs become when oversight disappears and accountability takes a back seat.

The lesson should be obvious: When government fails to verify eligibility, fraudsters take advantage. Republicans believe that taxpayers deserve better than that.

Mr. Speaker, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act. The idea behind the legislation is very simple. If government officials identify warning signs that a payment may be fraudulent, why should taxpayers be forced to send that money out the door anyway? Why?

No family should knowingly write a check to someone they believe may be trying to scam them, yet that is effectively what Washington has allowed to happen time and again for years.

H.R. 8464 helps put an end to that government mentality. Instead of waiting for taxpayer dollars to disappear, and then attempting to chase them down after the fact, this bill focuses on preventing fraud before it occurs. It allows agencies to pause, segment, or stop payments that present elevated fraud risks before taxpayer dollars are lost. That is simple common sense.

The Federal Government should not knowingly send money to fraudsters and hope everything works out on the back end.

Mr. Speaker, the rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act. The COVID pandemic exposed serious weaknesses in the Federal Government's ability to protect taxpayer dollars. In the rush to move money out the door, fraudsters saw a cash register. Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen. Criminals exploited gaps in oversight, and Americans were left wondering how can so much money disappear with so little level of accountability.

H.R. 8312 helps ensure that the Federal Government never again starts from scratch when confronting large-scale fraud. The bill establishes a permanent, governmentwide antifraud capability, preserves the successful oversight tools developed in response to taxpayer spending and scamming, and strengthens the ability for inspectors general and watchdogs to identify fraud before billions more taxpayer dollars disappear.

Fraudsters are constantly adapting, and government oversight should not remain stuck in the distant past. This legislation ensures future administrations have the tools necessary to protect taxpayers when the next emergency inevitably arrives.

Mr. Speaker, the rule also provides for consideration of H. Res. 1335. At its core, this resolution recognizes a simple truth: Fraud is not a victimless crime. It says fraud should be condemned. It says Congress should stand on the side of the taxpayers rather than fraudsters trying to exploit the system.

Taken together, these measures represent a clear change in approach by government. Instead of chasing taxpayer dollars after they disappear, Republicans are focused on preventing fraud before it happens. Instead of looking the other way when billions of dollars are lost and stolen, Republicans are demanding accountability.

Mr. Speaker, whether it is protecting taxpayer dollars from fraud or protecting communities from criminals, cartels, traffickers, and dangerous narcotics, the principle is exactly the same: Government has a responsibility to do the job that the American people expect it to do.

That brings me to the importance of fully funding Customs and Border Protection and immigration enforcement. Mr. Speaker, the rule also provides for consideration of S. 2, the Secure America Act. One of the most significant success stories in the last year-and-a-half has been the dramatic improvement in security at our southern border.

The border crisis that President Trump inherited was not by accident. It was the direct result of deliberate--deliberate--policy decisions made by the Biden administration. For 4 years, Americans watched the cameras at the southern border as the Federal Government abandoned proven enforcement policies, weakened deterrence, and expanded catch and release practices and allowed millions and millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country. It was nothing short of an invasion.

Human traffickers profited, and fentanyl flowed into our communities across the country. Border Patrol agents were forced to process migrants instead of securing our border. The result was one of the worst border crises in our Nation's history.

Under President Trump, we have reversed the course. It started instantly. The border was closed. Since taking office, illegal crossings have fallen dramatically. Border encounters have plummeted, and law enforcement officers have once again been empowered to enforce the laws already on the books. No new laws have been passed. We are enforcing the laws on the books.

The results speak for themselves. In April, southern border apprehensions were 94 percent lower than the monthly average experienced under the Biden administration. At the same time, CBP has seized significantly more dangerous narcotics attempting to enter our country, helping keep deadly drugs out of our backyards, our American communities.

Those improvements did not happen by accident. They are the result of stronger enforcement, better policies, and President Trump's commitment to restoring the rule of law at our border.

However, success doesn't mean the mission is complete. The cartels, they haven't disappeared. Human traffickers have not disappeared. Criminal smuggling networks continue to operate every single day. That is why the funding provided in this legislation remains necessary.

Mr. Speaker, Customs and Border Protection serves as one of the most important first lines of defense for our Nation and for our homeland security. Whether securing our borders, facilitating lawful trade and travel, or stopping dangerous narcotics before they reach American communities, CBP plays a critical role in both our national security and our economy.

I represent a district in western New York that shares a border with Canada. In my district, the border plays a part of everyday life. It supports jobs, commerce, tourism, agriculture, and cross-border trade through western New York and the southern tier.

In districts like mine, border security and economic security go hand in hand. The same officers helping lawful travelers and commerce move efficiently through our ports of entry are also stopping dangerous narcotics, criminal activity, and other threats before they reach our communities.

If we expect CBP to continue delivering results that we have seen over the last year and a half, Congress must ensure the agency has the support necessary to sustain those efforts.

Mr. Speaker, the legislation also provides critical funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Too often, people hear the name ICE and think only about immigration enforcement, but ICE's mission extends far beyond that. Every day, ICE agents combat human trafficking. They investigate gang activity. They dismantle narcotics trafficking organizations. They protect children from exploitation. They also work alongside State and local law enforcement to keep dangerous individuals off of our streets.

Much of this work happens outside of the spotlight, but it directly impacts Americans every single day. My district recently saw an example, a clear example of why this work matters. Just last week, a violent stabbing occurred in Cattaraugus County involving an illegal immigrant. Thanks to cooperation between the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office and ICE personnel in Buffalo, law enforcement uncovered additional violations and ultimately took a dangerous individual into Federal custody.

Keeping communities safe requires cooperation between local, State, and Federal law enforcement. Criminal organizations do not care about county lines, State lines, or international borders. Law enforcement must be able to coordinate, share information, and work together to ensure that dangerous individuals do not fall through the cracks.

Mr. Speaker, whether it is protecting taxpayer dollars from fraud or protecting communities from dangerous criminals, traffickers, cartels, and drug smugglers, Americans expect government to carry out its most basic responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and this underlying legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman fails to recognize the reason that we have to advance this funding. It is because their party time and again has obstructed and shut down our government instead of paying the employees of this government, all in the name of their politics. It is their last gasp in attempting to take us back to the era of a borderless country where we didn't defend our country from invasion. They did this.

When are we going to help improve Americans' lives? Well, I have to ask: How about the parents of Laken Riley who don't have a daughter because she was stolen. Her life was extinguished by an illegal immigrant that came here and killed her.

This is what this funding is here to do, to protect Americans. We need to advance multiple years of funding so that those employees actually get paid and they don't get held hostage in the political games of the Democratic Party.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert), my distinguished colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Haridopolos).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nunn).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Dakota (Mrs. Fedorchak).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, for years, Americans have watched as Washington tolerated waste, fraud, and abuse while millions of illegal immigrants crossed our border and dangerous criminals exploited weaknesses throughout our system.

The American people knew better. They lived with the consequences, and they voted for a President and a Congress committed to restoring accountability, enforcing the law, and putting taxpayers first. Fulfilling that promise means preventing fraud before taxpayer dollars disappear, securing our border, and ensuring government carries out the basic responsibilities the American people expect it to perform.

I strongly support the rule before us today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this rule and to the underlying bills.

At its core, this Republican reconciliation budget bill is a statement about priorities, and the priorities reflected in this bill could not be more out of step with the needs and values of the American people.

Families across this country are struggling to afford housing, groceries, childcare, and healthcare. Americans are dealing with rising costs, economic uncertainty, and the consequences of another unending war in the Middle East.

Americans were promised lower prices and stability, but instead, they are watching gas prices climb back up to $5 a gallon while inflation continues to rise and squeeze household budgets.

Against that backdrop, Republicans have decided that what the country really needs is to spend another $70 billion on ICE and Border Patrol. This is on top of the roughly $140 billion Republicans already provided to those agencies last year, much of which remains unspent.

Taken together, Republicans are proposing to spend nearly a quarter trillion dollars, all deficit spending, to expand detention camps, fund mass deportation, increase surveillance, and accelerate an immigration crackdown that has already caused enormous harm across our country.

Republicans are doing this while simultaneously claiming that America cannot afford investments in schools, housing, nutrition assistance, or healthcare.

Let's be honest about what this reconciliation bill represents. Republicans spent years pretending to be deeply concerned about deficits and debt, claiming to be the party of fiscal responsibility. They have attacked virtually every Democratic proposal to help working Americans and families, saying that those measures are fiscally irresponsible, but they have used their control of Congress and the White House to add trillions with a t, trillions of dollars, to the debt by giving tax cuts to their wealthy friends and corporate donors.

Now, Republicans are adding hundreds of billions more in debt to put more masked and armed ICE agents on our streets and to build out a nationwide network of corporate detention camps. Apparently, deficits only matter when tax dollars are used to help everyday Americans instead of Trump's billionaire buddies.

Mr. Speaker, it is also telling that Republicans are using a completely partisan process to ram through this S. 2 legislation. Once again, they are using the partisan reconciliation process to pass a budget because they have refused to negotiate through the normal appropriations process. Specifically, they have refused to enact any reforms to address the lawless behavior of ICE and Customs and Border Protection under the Trump administration.

Democrats proposed bipartisan funding solutions for DHS. We proposed reforms, accountability measures, and guardrails after repeated abuses by ICE and CBP resulted in chaos and death on American streets. We asked for basic transparency and oversight after the killings by Federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, American citizens. We asked that ICE and CBP be

held to the same standards as every other responsible law enforcement agency in this country.

Republicans said no. They said no to everything. There is not a single provision in this bill to rein in these rogue agents at DHS.

The Senate rejected amendment after amendment that would have imposed even minimal constraints on these agencies. The House bypassed committee consideration altogether. Why? It is because Republicans know the American people do not support the chaos that this administration is inflicting.

They know Americans don't want masked and armed Federal agents rampaging through their neighborhoods, at their kids' schools and soccer games, and in shopping malls and workplaces.

They know Americans are alarmed when lawful residents, law-abiding community members, and even citizens, are roughed up or detained by

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad that my colleague from Arizona brought up the impact of immigration on our Social Security system. The fact that immigrants pay into our Social Security system but are not eligible to take benefits out has actually acted to extend the life of that system and is a very important component of keeping that system working, in addition to all the benefits that immigrants bring to our country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Simon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Ruben Ray Martinez are all American citizens killed by Federal agents in our names, and our colleagues are unwilling to stand up and do anything to prevent that kind of senseless death in the future.

Instead, they try to get sympathy, which naturally should be provided to anyone who has suffered a family member's loss, but they can't lecture us that this is about human trafficking when DHS and the Department of Justice have pulled the resources from human and drug trafficking prevention and corporate crime prosecution. They have pulled those resources to direct them toward their massive deportation and detention effort. Eighty percent of the people they are detaining have no criminal records. It is all distract and divide.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to hear my colleague from Iowa express support for the safety of our law enforcement officers, and I would like to offer him and the whole caucus the opportunity to live up to that sentiment.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to allow the House to take an up-or-down vote on an amendment to S. 2 authored by Ranking Member Raskin, which would prohibit anyone who was convicted of or pleaded guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer on January 6, 2021, from receiving a settlement payment from the Department of Justice.

This taxpayer-funded slush fund to compensate insurrectionists and Trump allies is a disgrace. Even though the DOJ has paused this effort, the President on Sunday said he loves the idea and doesn't know what is going to happen to it. Since my Republican colleagues seem unwilling to kill this slush fund outright, maybe they will at least accept some restrictions on who can get legal settlement money from

the Federal Government and from taxpayers.

This next vote is very simple. Democrats want to vote to enshrine the following language into law: ``The Department of Justice may not use taxpayer funds to make settlement payments to individuals convicted of or who pled guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers at or around the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.''

These individuals beat and injured dozens of law enforcement officers with bats, bike racks, fire extinguishers, and flag poles on January 6. They should not receive taxpayer-funded payouts.

If there are just a few Republicans who agree and are willing to join us in defeating the previous question, we could fix this right now.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record, along with any extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the ranking member of the Committee on Rules, to discuss our proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, underneath all the rhetoric we have heard today, this debate comes down to a very simple question about what kind of country we want to be and what we believe government should do for the people it serves.

As Americans struggle with rising costs, economic uncertainty, and the consequences of this reckless and expensive war in Iran, Republicans have chosen to spend nearly $210 billion in taxpayer dollars on ICE and CBP.

At every turn, this Republican majority says that there is no money for housing, for schools, for healthcare, for SNAP, for WIC, or for food for infants and children. Yet, somehow, there is always enough to fight forever wars, to give tax cuts to the wealthy, and to drive chaos and division into our communities.

The tragedy is that Congress could choose a different path. We could invest in our communities instead of detention camps. We could lower costs for working families instead of enriching lobbyists, consultants, and private prison companies. We could protect constitutional rights and strengthen public trust instead of rewarding agencies that have repeatedly abused both.

We could implement humane and sensible immigration policies that support, rather than suppress, our economy and economic development, and that don't scare away foreign visitors, whether from Niagara Falls in the Buffalo area or from Independence Hall in my district, where we are seeing the direct impact of bad immigration policy on visitors for our 250th anniversary and for the World Cup.

These are the choices before this House. This legislation is not a serious attempt to solve problems. It is an ideological project built around fear, division, and the concentration of executive power.

Think about what this bill will do. Republicans are about to spend exorbitant sums to put more masked agents on our streets, to spy on their political opponents, and to build a sprawling network of detention camps, private corporate detention camps, capable of imprisoning tens of thousands of who? Political enemies? It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see where this authoritarian project is going.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and demonstrate their support for law enforcement by denying payments from the President's slush fund to the people who attacked law enforcement officers here at the Capitol on January 6, and I urge my colleagues to reject this dangerous waste of taxpayer money.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership and his commonsense approach to what is a very serious crisis facing our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Representative Fallon's antifraud resolution, H. Res. 1335.

Frankly, opposition to this bill is hard to comprehend. Making excuses, pretending that waste, abuse, and fraud do not occur, I can just hear anyone watching this on C-SPAN. I can feel their head shaking, wondering what this world is coming to.

This resolution is pretty simple. It condemns fraudsters and recognizes that governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms are necessary to improve the fiscal health of the United States. That is how it reads.

This includes all States. Let's not pretend it doesn't. From sea to shining sea, this resolution is all that, according to the Government Accountability Office. Nevertheless, according to the GAO, $1 trillion of improper payments occurred under the Biden administration. Secretary Bessent recently estimated that it was nearly $500 billion a year, so even more than $1 trillion. That is the reality.

The House Oversight Committee's recent report, whether you like it or not, found that Minnesota Governor Walz and his administration turned a blind eye to massive fraud schemes.

Two of the most notorious examples were the ``Learing Center''--I am sure you heard of it--and Feeding Our Future, which was set up to feed hungry young children. People, criminals, stole from it. We are here defending them? Fraud was allowed to grow for years while warning signs were ignored.

In Los Angeles, Mr. Speaker, investigators have identified roughly over $3 billion in hospice fraud. Thirty percent of the hospice bills were going to one county, an L.A. County, for the entire Nation. We have got people in this Chamber who are defending that somehow? In other words, as I just stated, we don't need any words: One-third of the Nation's hospice funds went to one county in the United States.

In my home State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where unemployment, by the way, sits at 3.6 percent, 15 percent of the residents are enrolled in SNAP. Yet, the program's recent error rate, by the way, was 15 percent, pretty much the highest in the country, making Pennsylvania one of the worst performing States in the Nation, particularly considering our lower unemployment. Mr. Speaker, $463 million per year, in Pennsylvania alone, is not going to needy families. It is being scammed.

From L.A. to Minneapolis to Pennsylvania, from sea to shining sea, taxpayers are being forced to fund fraudsters in and out of our government. It is stealing from every American who works hard and pays taxes. Equally important, we need to stop these criminals who scam the American taxpayer.

Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, I have worked with banks, telecom companies, regulators, law enforcement, and consumer groups to fight fraud and scams.

I am working on legislation to strengthen criminal penalties for fraud, require states to repay improper payments, and establish a framework to better track fraud across the federal government.

Everyone in this chamber should be outraged by this level of fraud.

Anyone who is considering voting no on this resolution ought to think about if they are going to be part of the solution or part of the problem.

I urge passage and yield back.